A/RES/52/140
Page 3
Further welcoming the support extended by the Government of the Sudan to the visit by a delegation
of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in December 1996,
Noting the establishment by the Government of the Sudan of national committees for human rights
education, and encouraging the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to
take into consideration requests for assistance by the Government of the Sudan, including assistance to
help those committees to improve the observance of human rights in the Sudan,
Welcoming the establishment by the Consultative Council for Human Rights of subcommittees on
detentions without trial, arrests, torture and lack of due process of law, religious persecution, forced
displacement and bombardments, extrajudicial killings, access for relief organizations and humanitarian
law, slavery and disappearances, the rights of women, the rights of the child and freedom of expression
and peaceful assembly,
Taking note of the long-overdue report by the Government of the Sudan on the summary execution
of aid workers in Juba in 1992,8 and regretting that it did not provide any evidence that a fair trial was
given,
Also noting the work of the Special Investigation Committee on Allegations of Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances and Reported Cases of Slavery,
Concerned that the continuation of civil war in the Sudan has caused the internal displacement of
a large number of persons, including ethnic minorities, has resulted in the indiscriminate bombing and
shelling of civilian targets and has been marked by gross violations of human rights by the Government
of the Sudan and by lack of respect of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict,
Encouraged by the joint announcement by the Government of the Sudan and the Sudanese People's
Liberation Movement that they are engaged in peace talks, scheduled to resume early in 1998 under the
sponsorship of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the acceptance by all parties of the
Declaration of Principles as the basis for negotiation,
1. Expresses deep concern at the serious, widespread and continuing human rights violations in the
Sudan, including extrajudicial killings and summary executions, detentions without due process, violations
of the rights of women and children, forced displacement of persons, enforced or involuntary
disappearances, torture and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment, slavery, practices similar to
slavery and forced labour, denial of the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly and
discrimination based on religion;
2. Expresses its outrage at the use by all parties to the conflict of military force to disrupt or attack
relief efforts, and calls for an end to such practices and for those responsible for such actions to be
brought to justice;
3. Calls upon the Government of the Sudan to comply with applicable international human rights
instruments to which the Sudan is a party, in particular the International Covenants on Human Rights,2
8
Ibid., paras. 41-46.
/...