News briefing
Translated and edited by: Committee for Justice
Geneva: 3 July 2022
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed her concerns over the killing of protesters by Sudanese security forces throughout the country, stressing that force should only be used when absolutely necessary and in full compliance with the principles of legality, necessity, precautions and proportionality, and called for an investigation and accountability for those responsible.
” I am alarmed by the killing of at least nine protesters by security forces in Sudan yesterday – including a 15-year-old child – even after the police had announced they would not use lethal force to disperse the demonstrators,” Bachelet said.
“ The latest killings, which took place at a time when the mobile and internet communications had been shut down across the country, bring the number of people killed by security forces in the context of protests since the coup last year to 113. So far, no-one has been held accountable for these deaths,” she added.
Reports indicate that the joint security forces used live bullets, tear gas and water cannons against the demonstrators, who numbered thousands of demonstrators in cities and towns across the country. According to medical sources, most of the dead were shot in the chest, head and back, and security forces arrested at least 355 demonstrators across the country, including at least 39 women and a large number of children, according to the statement.
“I again stress to the Sudanese authorities that force should be used only when strictly necessary and in full compliance with the principles of legality, necessity, precaution, and proportionality. In no case is force permissible to dissuade or intimidate protesters from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly, or to threaten them with harm for doing so. Lethal force is a measure of last resort and only in cases where there is an imminent threat to life or of serious injury,” she said.
Bachelet also stressed in her statement that the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and participation in public affairs is protected under international human rights law, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sudan is a state party.
The High Commissioner called on authorities to conduct an independent, transparent, thorough, and impartial investigation into the response by the security forces in accordance with relevant international standards, including the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death, and to hold those responsible to account. Victims, survivors, and their families have a right to truth, justice and reparations.
