Human rights behind bars

21 Mar 2010

Human rights behind bars

The advent of peace in Southern Sudan has produced few advances in the status of prisoners' human rights.

Access to qualified legal counsel remains quite limited, living conditions in many detention facilities have worsened and poorly trained prison officials often resort to physical assault to control unruly Inmates.
"The prisons' physical infrastructure is in an advanced stage of deterioration," said Robert Leggat, the head of the UNMIS corrections advisory unit in Southern Sudan. "Their dilapidated nature (Endangers) both the health and security of the detainees."
Owing to a shortage of living quarters, juvenile inmates must share rooms with adult prisoners of the same gender at the prison in the Upper Nile State capital of Malakal, according to UNMIS human rights officer Alfred Zulu.
The power sharing protocol of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement enshrines the right to a fair trial for any Sudanese citizen facing criminal charges.
But witnesses for the prosecution often go unchallenged in a courtroom proceeding in Mr. Zulu's experience, and defendants who don't speak Arabic are at a serious disadvantage in trials held in Upper Nile State.
"The men do not understand the proceedings, and most of them are illiterate villagers," he said. "There are no fair trials, there is no due process."

The deputy director of the prison in Juba recently admitted that 385 inmates housed in his facility were still awaiting their first appearance in court, and some of them have been in custody since 2007.

The deference often shown to traditional customary laws in some parts of the region can land people in jail on tenuous grounds that most modern courts would reject out of hand.

"You find people who are imprisoned in (the Unity State capital of) Bentiu because of crimes committed by their relatives or friends," said UNMIS Child Protection Officer James Gatgong.

In Southern Sudan, 75 inmates languish on death row. Mr. Zulu said that the vast majority of inmates at Malakal prison who have been sentenced to die have not lodged appeals because they are unaware that such a legal option exists or they cannot afford to hire an attorney to pursue that course of action.
Of 12 prisoners who have been hanged in Southern Sudan in the past three years, the two most recent executions occurred in Malakal last November.
"We feel it unsafe to continue to use the death penalty as a tool for punishment, given the level of poverty and the lack of education and awareness among many Southern Sudanese," said Mr. Zulu.

The UN Human Rights Commission approved a resolution in 1999 in favor of a worldwide oratorium on capital punishment. The resolution urged countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty to restrict its use by limiting the number of serious crimes that are punishable by execution.

About 250 prison officers have received training on record management, the treatment of prisoners, juvenile justice and criminal proceedings since January 2009, according to Dennis Phiri, a corrections advisor at the UNMIS team site in the Western Equatoria State capital of Yambio.

But much more needs to be done for the human rights of prisoners themselves.
To relieve overcrowding in some penitentiaries, said Mr. Zulu, criminals convicted of minor offences should repay their debt to society through community service or other kinds of punishment instead of mandatory imprisonment.
UNMIS Child Protection Advisor David Kibiriti sees a pressing need to place greater emphasis on the rehabilitation that prisons can offer inmates during their time behind bars.
"Our role is to ensure that all prisoners are fairly treated," said Mr. Kibiriti, "not as prisoners, but as humans who are going to survive." James Sokiri and Francis Shuei Diu