KHARTOUM – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate have submitted a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council warning of what they described as a “devastating collapse” of press freedom in Sudan ahead of the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The report said Sudan had failed to implement most of the recommendations on freedom of expression and the protection of journalists that it accepted during its previous UPR cycle, citing widespread violations since the outbreak of the conflict in April 2023.
According to the report, journalists have been subjected to killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence against women journalists. It also cited severe restrictions on access to information and the use of legislation to criminalize journalistic work in areas controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), while documenting what it described as widespread violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The organizations said impunity for crimes against journalists has persisted throughout the conflict and called on all parties to protect media workers, investigate attacks against them, release arbitrarily detained journalists, end the misuse of laws to suppress independent reporting and ensure a safe environment for journalism across Sudan.
The report was submitted ahead of Sudan’s Universal Periodic Review, a peer-review mechanism of the U.N. Human Rights Council under which every U.N. member state undergoes a comprehensive assessment of its human rights record approximately every four and a half years. The process results in recommendations aimed at improving compliance with international human rights obligations.
Sudan’s conflict between the SAF and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has become one of the world’s most dangerous conflicts for journalists. Local and international press freedom organizations have repeatedly documented killings, detentions, intimidation and restrictions on media workers, warning that the war has severely curtailed independent reporting and public access to information.
