UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 12) [The Elections Act] was amended in 2014 to increase the proportion of women from 25 per cent to 30 per cent and to improve geographical and proportional representation in order to widen participation.

Para 33) The findings of a workforce survey to determine levels of employment and participation in economic life among men and women made public in April 2012. Among its more significant results, the survey showed that economic participation among both sexes increased from 39.3 per cent in 1999 to 43 per cent in 2011. The number of people reliant on paid work jumped to 40.1 per cent, standing at 43.6 per cent for men and 29.4 per cent for women.

Para 69) The National Quarter-Century Strategy for 2007-2031 advocates the participation of women in a wholesale revival of society. One of the central elements of the Strategy is, in fact, the empowerment of women.

Para 70) The State's concern in this regard has led it to create various frameworks as well as seven official national mechanisms to empower women and promote their role in society.

Para 71) The national policy for the empowerment of women - which was adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2007 and has been used as a reference for the Constitution, national laws and regional and international treaties - has been updated for the period 2015-2016, with the help of development partners. Projects included in the policy aim to address issues such as education, health care, the environment, economic empowerment, human rights law, political participation and decision-making, and peace and conflict resolution. A detailed outline of a national policy to empower women has been proposed, incorporated into the second five-year plan (2012-2016) and sent out to districts and provinces.

Para 72) The participation of women in the national legislature in 2015 was as follows. There were 131 female members of the National Assembly which has a total number of seats of 450, and there were 16 female members, out of a total of 56, of the Council of States.

Para 73) Following the 2014 amendments to electoral law, the people of Sudan helped to reinforce the foundations of democracy by participating in the April 2015 elections and the peaceful transfer of power. The proportion of women in parliament went up from 25 to 30 per cent ...

UN Compilation:
Para 5) ... In 2015, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, was concerned by the discriminatory interpretation and implementation of provisions of the Criminal Law Act, the Public Order Act and the Personal Status Act. The Special Rapporteur noted that over 26 laws, including the Personal Status Act, contained provisions that were discriminatory towards women. Proposed changes at the federal level included: an amendment to the minimum age of marriage; the harmonization of domestic substantive and procedural laws with international human rights standards; and the ratification of CEDAW and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 10) JS2 noted Sudan did not accept previous recommendations to reform NSSA (2010) and did not amend its laws on marriage, custody, divorce, property rights, and indecency in compliance with international human rights law and as previously accepted recommendation.

Para 48) JS1 noted that in the first cycle Sudan accepted recommendations on gender equality and women's equal rights, and on steps to amend/repeal all discriminatory provisions in the Sudanese Nationality Act of 1994. However, children can only acquire citizenship from their Sudanese mothers through an application process, whereas children of Sudanese fathers acquire Sudanese citizenship automatically.

National Report:
Para 24) The State has continued to reform and develop domestic legislation by amending existing provisions or passing new ones, in line with obligations arising from international instruments and with a view to promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. Since the submission of its second report, the State has issued the Constitutional Document for the transitional period in addition to a number of pieces of legislation, as follows: … (b) … • Criminalizing and punishing the practice of female genital mutilation (art. 141 (a) of the Criminal Code);
Para 85) In recognition of the efforts the Government has made in this connection, in February 2019 UNESCO awarded its Prize in Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts to the National Council for Child Welfare for the success of the Saleema initiative to end female genital mutilation.
Para 89) Social support is being provided to midwives and they are being given their own projects to run in order to improve their income and encourage them to abandon harmful traditional practices.
Para 93) In order to raise the general level of awareness among security services and the judiciary regarding domestic and sexual violence and female genital mutilation, security and judicial officials have received training, both in Sudan and abroad, on the subject of violence against women and children.
Para 94) (c) The State has adopted a national strategy to prevent child marriage, which is part of its national strategy for children 2018–2030. In addition to this, a national action plan to end child marriage in Sudan, rolled out in November 2017, has been updated for the period 2021–2031. The plan uses as its baseline a regional assessment of child marriage conducted by UNICEF in 2016; (d) A bill to combat violence against women has been drafted, which includes provisions prohibiting early marriage. In addition, a ministerial committee has been set up to review legislation and laws on women and to address any loopholes; (e) Female genital mutilation has been made a criminal offence under article 141 (a) of the Criminal Code as amended in 2020, and the Personal Status Act is being reviewed to bring it into line with international standards concerning age of marriage; (f) A strategy to end female genital mutilation 2021–2030 has been drafted and is currently in the final stages of approval, and a proposal has been made to include that issue in the school curriculum.

UN Compilation:
Para 48) The United Nations country team noted that, despite the recent adoption by the Sudan of a law criminalizing female genital mutilation, the prevalence of that harmful practice was alarming, with over 80 per cent of women nationwide subjected to it, reaching around 90 per cent in 7 of the 18 Sudanese states.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 78) The Helena Kennedy Centre for international Justice noted that most women are married young, with the legal age for marriage being 10 years old, when a girl is tamyeez (Mature), with the permission of an elder. In a survey undertaken by Dabanga, it was reported that a third of the female population in Sudan aged between 20 and 24 were married by the age of 18, despite having ratified the CRC.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 71) The Helena Kennedy Centre for international Justice noted that Sudan has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world: It is reported that 88% of women aged 15-49 have been cut.

National Report:
Para 22) Sudan is in the process of ratifying the following instruments: • CEDAW (1979);

UN Compilation:
Para 5) ... In 2015, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, was concerned by the discriminatory interpretation and implementation of provisions of the Criminal Law Act, the Public Order Act and the Personal Status Act. The Special Rapporteur noted that over 26 laws, including the Personal Status Act, contained provisions that were discriminatory towards women. Proposed changes at the federal level included: an amendment to the minimum age of marriage; the harmonization of domestic substantive and procedural laws with international human rights standards; and the ratification of CEDAW and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 10) JS2 noted Sudan did not accept previous recommendations to reform NSSA (2010) and did not amend its laws on marriage, custody, divorce, property rights, and indecency in compliance with international human rights law and as previously accepted recommendation.

Para 48) JS1 noted that in the first cycle Sudan accepted recommendations on gender equality and women's equal rights, and on steps to amend/repeal all discriminatory provisions in the Sudanese Nationality Act of 1994. However, children can only acquire citizenship from their Sudanese mothers through an application process, whereas children of Sudanese fathers acquire Sudanese citizenship automatically.