Human trafficking in Sudan

In 2007, Greek law enforcement authorities identified a female sex trafficking victim from Sudan. The terrorist rebel organization, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), continues to harbor small numbers of Sudanese and Ugandan children in the southern part of the country for use as cooks, porters, and combatants; some of these children are also trafficked across borders into Uganda or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[9]

In March 2007, six Sudanese girls were abducted by the LRA near Maridi, Western Equatoria. Sudanese children are unlawfully conscripted, at times through abduction, and utilized by armed rebel groups—including all SLA factions, the Popular Defense Forces, Janjaweed militia, and Chadian opposition forces—in Sudan's ongoing conflict in Darfur; the Sudanese Armed Forces and associated militias also continue to exploit young children in this region.

There were confirmed reports of unlawful child recruitment in mid-2007 by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Peace Wing among communities of internally displaced persons in Dereig, South Darfur. Militia groups in Darfur, some of which are linked to the government, abduct women for short periods of forced labor and to perpetrate sexual violence.^[9]

Forcible recruitment of adults and particularly children by virtually all armed groups involved in Sudan's concluded north–south civil war was commonplace; thousands of children still associated with these forces await demobilization and reintegration into their communities of origin.

In addition to the exploitation of children by armed groups during the two decades-long north–south civil war, thousands of Dinka women and children were abducted and subsequently enslaved by members of the Missiriya and Rezeigat tribes during this time. An unknown number of children from the Nuba tribe were similarly abducted and enslaved.

A portion of those who were abducted and enslaved remained with their abductors in South Darfur and West Kordofan and experienced varying types of treatment; others were sold or given to third parties, including in other regions of the country; and some ultimately escaped from their captors. While there have been no known new abductions of Dinka by members of Baggara tribes in the last few years, intertribal abductions continue in southern Sudan, especially in Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria states.

The Government of National Unity of Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. While the government did take limited steps to demobilize child soldiers, combating human trafficking through law enforcement or prevention measures was not a priority for the government in 2007.^[10]

In December 2013, violence and conflict emerged after a political struggle between Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar, which led to armed groups targeting civilians, committing rape and sexual violence, destroying villages and properties, and recruiting children into their ranks. The first step to ending the civil war was the signing of a peace agreement in August 2015, which led to violent outbreaks in 2016, as Machar returned to his position as vice president. Five years later, Kiir and Machar attended negotiations mediated by Uganda and Sudan in June 2018, which led to both signing the Khartoum Declaration of Agreement a month later, leading to a cease-fire and pledge to implement a power-sharing agreement to end the war. The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan was signed in August 2018, and included a new power-sharing structure.^[11][12]

During the civil war that started in 2023, women and female children were at a higher risk to be sold into slavery and trafficked for child marriage and sexual exploitation.^[13][14]

The government's anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts were negligible during the reporting period; it did not investigate or prosecute any suspected trafficking cases. Sudan is a large country with porous borders and destitute hinterlands; the national government has little ability to establish authority or a law enforcement presence in many regions. Sudan's criminal code does not prohibit all forms of trafficking in persons, though its Articles 162, 163, and 164, criminalize abduction, luring, and forced labor, respectively.

The Interim National Constitution prohibits slavery and forced labor. No trafficker has ever been prosecuted under these articles. In 2007, the Council of Ministers approved the Child Protection Act, which prohibits the recruitment or enlistment of soldiers under the age of 18; the act must be approved by the parliament before it can be implemented.

The draft Sudan Armed Forces Act, which was expected to be debated in the National Assembly in October 2006, was returned to the Council of Ministers for review. The bill prescribes criminal penalties for persons who recruit children under 18 years of age, as well as for a range of human rights violations, including abduction and enslavement.^[9][10]

In June 2007, Southern Sudan's Child Protection Act of 2006, which prohibits the recruitment of children, passed its first reading in the Southern Sudan Assembly and is now in its second reading. The government does not document or track anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts; nor does it provide specialized anti-trafficking training to law enforcement, prosecutorial, and judicial personnel.^[10]

The 2008 South Sudan's Child Act defines a child to be anyone under 18, and protects children from having to serve with the police, prison, or military forces. The act states the possible penalties for recruitment or use of a child in an armed force to be an imprisonment tern not exceeding ten years, a fine, or both. A person has to be a minimum of 18 years of age to be eligible for enlistment according to the 2009 South Sudan's SPLA Act. The Ministry of Defense's legal advisory office recommended in September 2014 that possible punishments for child recruitment and occupation of schools and hospitals should be added to the SPLA Act.^[15]

In 2017, the government's Judicial and Legal Sciences Institute, together with the Ministry of Justice, partnered with an international organization to provide four five-day trainings titled "Strengthening the Capacity of the Criminal Justice System in Sudan to Address Human Trafficking" for law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and social workers across eight of Sudan's 18 states. In August that same year, various representatives from the judiciary, Criminal Prosecution Office, Office of the Attorney General, law enforcement branches, Ministry of Justice, and social workers worked together to develop the training curriculum for a trainer-of-trainers model to help in the early identification and prosecution of human trafficking cases under the 2014 Anti-Trafficking law.^[10]

Also in 2017, the Ministry of Interior launched the Regional Operational Centre on Trafficking (ROCK), together with the African Union and a multilateral organization, to help facilitate international trafficking investigations between source, transit, and destination countries along commonly used trafficking routes. International donors have pledged support for the ROCK.^[6]

In 2019, the government reported that no investigations, prosecutions or convictions of traffickers were carried out by law enforcement for the eighth consecutive year.^[7]