Policy Analysis Report: Sudan's Internal Population Displacement and. Migration â Magnitude and Policy Issues in the. New Millennium by. Awadalla M. Saeed.
Policy Analysis Report: Sudan’s Internal Population Displacement and Migration – Magnitude and Policy Issues in the New Millennium
by Awadalla M. Saeed Professor, School of Rural Extension Education and Development, Ahfad University for Women, Sudan and
Amira Y. Badri Associate Professor, Institute of Women, Gender and Development Studies, Ahfad University for Women, Sudan.
September 2009, revised June 2010
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This report was developed in the context of the African-European research and curriculum development project IMMIS – African Migration and Gender in Global Context: Implementing Migration Studies, funded by the ACP-EU Cooperation Programme in Higher Education EDULINK – a programme of the ACP Group of States, with the financial assistance of the European Union.
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the ACP Secretariat.
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Chapter One
1,265 km, Zaire 628 km, Uganda 435 km, Kenya 232 km, Ethiopia 1,606 km, and Eritrea 605 km.2
Introduction Sudan has continued, since ancient times, to constitute a melting pot for the diverse ethnic stocks and cultures of many Mediterranean, African and Asiatic peoples. Historically, through external cultural influence, Sudan witnessed massive conversions from its traditional religions to Christianity and Islam, It was subjected to prolonged occupations by foreign colonial powers, and has continued to witness seemingly unending internal conflicts over control of resources and political power, especially in the recent times. “In its 5,000 year written historical record, Sudan has been at peace for only about 600 years.”1 This introductory chapter will feature geopolitical background information about Sudan, and a brief description, from an historical perspective, of the socio-cultural, political, institutional, and economic root causes of the recent massive internal population displacement and higher rates of internal and external migration and their concomitant effects. The Sudan, with its expansive land area which is estimated to total about 2.5 million sq km, is regarded as the largest country in Africa. It borders the Red Sea in the North East and nine countries, namely Egypt, Libya, Chad, Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The land borders total 7,687 km and the coastal line is 853 km in length. The breakdown of the land borders of Sudan with neighboring countries is Egypt 1,273 km, Libya 383 km, Chad 1,360 km, Central African Republic 1
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/sudan/index.cfm?i=26937)
The present-day Sudan, as an independent geo-political entity, has historically evolved from being an area accommodating a group of scattered independent kingdoms and tribal entities into becoming a unified independent country with internationally recognized borders. Sudan borders, however, are still unsettled in certain locations, and border disputes stemming from contested historical claims still exist (like the one between Sudan and Egypt concerning sovereignty over the Hala'ib Triangle (see Map 1) - an area of 20,580 sq km neighboring the Red Sea in the North East). The demarcation of the boundaries with Ethiopia, Chad and Kenya are yet to be definitively completed.3 The northern Sudan lies largely within the boundaries of land that was governed by the ancient Nubian Kingdoms. The original people of those kingdoms are the ancestors of the present-day Nubian people of the North. Archaeological studies have suggested that the ancient Nubian people had inhabited the area for over 60,000 years and had established contact with Egypt during the formative years of their culture. Studies on their skeletal remains suggested that they were genetically a blend of Negroid and Mediterranean peoples, and that the genetic blending had continued during the Neolithic 2
CIA (2008). The World Factbook – SUDAN. Last updated 14 September 2009.
3
The boundary that separates Kenya and Sudan's sovereignty in the "Ilemi Triangle," but it seems that the successive governments of Sudan are tacitly approving of the historical administrative rights of Kenya in the region that continued since colonial times.
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period (eighth to third millennia B. C.).4 The infiltration of other elements (Arabs and others) into the makeup of the people in northern Sudan is relatively recent, and has taken place mainly in the areas of Central Sudan.
Belief in ancient religions was common in the Nubian kingdoms, but that eventually gave way to a belief in the Christian faith. Christianity had entered Sudan first through its northern gate long before the coming of Islam. An ancient church flourished in Nubia for over 4 centuries, but because of the gradual spread of Islam, Christianity in the North was reduced over the years to a minor religion. However, Christianity advanced southwards and churches were established in Khartoum in 1846, and further up the Nile during the Turko-Egyptian rule of Sudan which continued for over 60 years (1821-1885). The spread of Christianity was checked briefly during National Mahdist Islamic rising between 1881 and 1898, but it resumed spreading (mainly in southern Sudan) during the reign of the Condominium Government that was established in 1899 following the reconquest of Sudan by a joint Anglo-Egyptian force led by General Kichener. The condominium agreement between Great Britain and Egypt designated the territory south of the North twenty-second parallel as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. That agreement restored the Egyptian rule in Sudan but under a power sharing arrangement. By agreement, no Christian missionary work was allowed in northern Sudan, but missionaries were allowed to work in southern Sudan, and education was left solely in their hands.
Map 1 Source: THE WORLD FACTBOOK – SUDAN 2008
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History of Ancient Sudan, Somali Press, http://www.somalipress.com/sudan-overview/history-ancient-sudan1152.html
In the economic sphere, although the Anglo-Egyptian condominium sought from the beginning to modernize Sudan, little attention was given to development of its relatively more remote and underdeveloped southern provinces except for efforts to suppress tribal warfare and the remnants of slave trade. Development efforts were concentrated in the central clay plains of Sudan that were easy to develop and had great
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potential for growing cotton for export. The effort to develop government educational and other institutions was concentrated in northern Sudan. Those policies widened the socio-economic gap between North and South, especially because the British authorities treated the southern provinces of Sudan as a separate region to be developed along traditional lines. In fact, the colonial government adopted a position that led to the isolation of the southern provinces by decreeing the 1920 ‘closed door ordinance’ which barred people from northern Sudan from entering or working in southern Sudan. The few merchants and government employees from the north who were working in the south were gradually expelled. The use of Arabic and Arabic names by the inhabitants, as well as the wearing of Arab dresses, was inhibited. All northern Sudanese were branded as slave traders. The preaching of Islam was restricted and the advantage was given to Christian missionaries. Later on, in 1930, the southern provinces of Sudan were further isolated from the north by the issuance of a directive by the colonial government that blacks in the southern provinces were to be treated as distinct from the Muslim people in the north, and that southern Sudan should be prepared for integration with British East Africa.5 However, in 1946 a shift in the policy toward the south occurred, and the AngloEgyptian Government decided to integrate the southern provinces with the north within a unified Sudan, and to prepare the country for independence which was granted to its people through peaceful and orderly means in January 1956. Shortly before independence was granted to Sudan, a mutiny took place in southern Sudan in August 1955 motivated by an apprehension among the southerners from the potential of 5
Alier, Abel (1972) “The Southern Sudan Question”. In Dunstan M. Wai (ed.), The Southern Sudan: The Problem of National Integration.
being dominated by the political and economic powers of the north.6 That mutiny had set the stage for prolonged civil wars in southern Sudan which continued for over five decades, with relatively brief lulls, and caused the displacement of huge numbers of the region’s population to northern Sudan and neighbouring countries.7 6
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Reik Machar, the present Vice-President of the interim Government of South Sudan, has expressed that apprehension by stating that “Independence for Sudan meant nothing for South Sudan but a change of masters as the North Sudanese took over the colonial state. The North Sudanese elites failed to evolve policies that would have consolidated national unity and stability. As a result, the Sudan has been plunged into continuous state of political, constitutional, economic and military crisis till today. Various governments and regimes in Khartoum waged war and denied the South Sudanese equality, social justice, freedom and effective participation in the running of the State.” “http://www.maxpages.com/machar
The national politics in Sudan have been characterized by the successive military and civilian regimes being inclined to establish Islamic-oriented pro-Arab governments, since independence in 1956, despite the fact that significant segments of the population are non-Muslim and non-Arab. Also socio-economic development was more concentrated in the centre relative to the peripheries. The consequence was the infliction of the country by two prolonged civil wars in the southern Sudan triggered by the long existing feelings of marginalization and the deep-rooted resentment among people in southern Sudan of the economic, political, and social domination of the country by people in northern Sudan. The first civil war in southern Sudan, initiated the rebellion of 1955, ended in 1972 by an Addis Ababa agreement during the Numeiry regime. But because of the perceived violation of the terms of that agreement by Numeiry who decided to divide southern Sudan into three semiindependent administrative units, another civil war began in 1983 and continues for over two decades and caused the displacement of millions of people (mainly to northern Sudan). In January 9, 2005 the warring sides agreed to sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which provided
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A separate major armed uprising, not rooted on religion or cultural differences, like the case for southern Sudan, has erupted and continued to inflict the country in its western region of Darfur since 2003. The people in Darfur are all Muslims and most of them have mixed Arab and African blood. The reasons behind the armed conflict in west Darfur are related a host of other factors, including resentment of the continued underdevelopment of the region’s infrastructural services, the adverse socio-economic effects of the prolonged drought which resulted into massive population displacement because of lack of adequate government intervention, the competition over use of natural resources which resulted into uncontrolled conflicts between the settled and the pastoral tribes. In fact, the government was accused of arming and setting some members of the Arab tribes (the Janjaweed) against the dissident tribal groups in the area. The prolonged combat between government forces and the rebel groups in southern Sudan, and more recently in the western Darfur region, has affected the neighboring African States. As of 2006 over half a million Sudanese refugees, including 240,000 from Darfur were hosted by Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The Sudan also hosted during the same period 116,746 refugees from Eritreans, 20,000 from Chadians, and smaller numbers of Ethiopians (14,633), Ugandans (7,895), Central Africans (5,023), and Congolese (6,800). In February 2006, Sudan and Democratic
Republic of Congo signed an agreement to repatriate 13,300 Sudanese and 6,800 Congolese.8 Forced internal migration in Sudan also resulted from factors other than civil war, including the deterioration of the physical environmental conditions and the widespread rural poverty which limited the potential for adoption of alternative survival strategies locally. On the whole, Sudan is regarded as one of the poorest least developed nations of the World. The recent estimates made by IFAD (2007) indicated that 20 million people in Sudan were living below the poverty line of US$ 1 a day, and about 19 million people (85% of the rural population) were surviving under abject poverty conditions. In 2006, about 2.5 million people in Darfur, and about 3 million in the southern and eastern Sudan, and in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile States required food assistance.9 Poverty in Sudan, according to IFAD (2009) is higher in southern Sudan and the conflict affected areas (eastern and western Sudan) than elsewhere in the country.10 The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 provided an opportunity for economic and social recovery in southern Sudan; and the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement signed in 2006 also brought stability to eastern Sudan. However, the conflict in Darfur which began in 2003 is continuing to cause an alarming deterioration in the displaced population’s conditions, despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006 and resumption of peace talks under the sponsorship of Qatar. 8
for regional autonomy in the southern Sudan and paved the way for peaceful return of the displaced.
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The source of data: The 2008 WORLD FACTBOOK. IFAD (2007). Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty in Sudan. http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/Pn/factsheets/sd.pdf IFAD, 2009, Republic of The Sudan Country strategic opportunities programme, IFAD Document EB 2009/96/R.42/Rev.1, 29 April 2009.
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Chapter Two
Magnitude of Internal Population Displacement in Sudan This chapter will present and discuss current data on IDPs in Sudan to reveal the alarming magnitude of the country’s population displacement, the specific factors behind population displacement in relation to the different IDP groups, and the national and international programmes for assisting the IDPs and securing their voluntary return to their communities of origin. The review of the literature for this paper revealed the large volume of work reporting on the plight of internally displaced persons worldwide. The figures extracted by Doebbler (2009) shows that the Sudan is the country with the highest number of internally displaced persons in the world today. According to these figures, Sudan has a population of 4.5 million IDPs, and that the internally displaced persons form almost half the population in Khartoum State.11 The types of 11
Doebbler, Curtis (2009). The Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Sudan.
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problems facing the displaced community in Sudan, especially the urban displaced in and around Khartoum, as viewed by Doebbler fall into three broad categories which include:
the daily problems concerning education, health, utilities and public services, transportation, and communications, problems concerning demolitions, forced evictions or relocation of IDPs settlements, and Problems that form the root cause of displacement in the first instance.
Other estimates of the number of IDPs in Sudan, like the one made by the International Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC)12, reported the number as 4.9 million, of which about 1.2 million (from all areas of Sudan, but mostly from the south) are hosted by Khartoum State. IDMC (2009) noted that most of the IDPs in Khartoum are looking to settle permanently in their new displacement area, but their living conditions have remained difficult. “While Khartoum has seen strong economic growth, many of Khartoum’s poor and vulnerable populations, including IDPs, continue to struggle with inadequate access to social services and few sustainable livelihoods.” The enormous number of displaced persons in Sudan is the outcome of a number of root causes, the most drastic one of
which is the chain of continued armed conflicts that were fueled by political, economic, social and environmental factors. As a result of Sudan’s extended armed conflicts, about 4 million people in southern Sudan were forced to leave their original areas of residence and to seek refuge in other areas as IDPs (mainly in northern Sudan) or as international refugees and asylum seekers in neighbouring countries. Since January 2005, the date of signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between north and south, about 2.24 million southern Sudanese IDPs and refugees are believed to have returned to southern Sudan, but their return was frustrated by limited access to social services and facilities for securing sustainable livelihoods. As estimated by IDMC (2009), about ten percent of the return movements have been unsuccessful for that reason, among others. Inter-communal violence has erupted in places and resulted into significant new displacements in southern Sudan (about 187 thousand people were newly displaces in 2008). In May 2008, renewed intertribal conflicts in Abyei (a contested oil-rich land area in Southern Kordofan State of northern Sudan along the border with southern Sudan) led to the displacement of between 50,000 and 60,000 people and the almost complete destruction of Abyei town. At the end of 2008, the number of IDPs in the Blue Nile State was estimated by IDMC to be over 200,000 people those who remained internally displaced in south Kordofan (in the Nuba Mountains Area) as more than 100,000.
http://dcregistry.com/users/Sudan/IDPs.html 12 International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). 4.9 million IDPs across Sudan face ongoing turmol. http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B. /(httpCountrySummaries)/3C6C147EB3DE6E4EC12575C1003AFE98?O penDocument&count=10000
In eastern Sudan, implementation of the 2006 Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA), that was signed by the government and the opposition rebell factions of eastern Sudan, has progressed only slowly, with the consequence that in 2008 there were still up to about 420,000 displaced living in camps and outside camps in this impoverished region of the country.
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The situation in Darfur is even worse. In that troubled region, the armed conflict has continued unabated since its early beginnings in 2003, and resulted into the displacement of about 2.7 million persons by January 2009.13 In the first three months of 2009 a further 65,000 people were displaced. The threats to people’s safety have severely limited rural livelihood strategies and have led to a rapid population growth in Darfur’s major towns and IDP settlements (IDMC, 2009). Historically, population displacement forced by the two prolonged civil wars has also fed urban growth in southern Sudan (de Geoffroy (2007). However, the growth of urban populations in Sudan, fed by forced exodus of rural people affected by natural and man-made disasters, has been more dramatic in Khartoum State because it was perceived as a place that can provide protection and better opportunities for the displaced. The Joint Programme for Return of IDPs: The growing concern with IDPs in Sudan has attracted numerous actors, including the Federal and State Governments of northern Sudan, the Government of South Sudan, international donors, United Nations agencies, international and national non-governmental organizations, and civil society organizations. A joint organized return programme for IDPs involving the Federal Government of National Unity (GoNU), the Government of South Sudan (GoSS), and the United Nation 13
An overview of the historical developments that have resulted in the currently massive population displacement in Darfur is succinctly reported by Mulaj 2008), with reference to the comprehensive writing s and reports contributed by CNN (2006), de Waal (2005), Flint and de Waal (2005), Human Rights Watch (2004a, 2004b), International Crisis Group (2004), Johnson (2004), Prunier (2005), and United Nations (2005).
Organizations.14 That programme which was led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), started in January 2007. The programme became actively operational in April 2007, and over 32,500 IDPs were assisted to return to their original home areas in South Kordofan and southern Sudan through five convey routes by road, river, rail and air (see Map 2) The first batch included 891 southern Sudanese IDPs who were transported by road from Nyala (the capital of southern Darfur State) to El Deain, and from there by busses to Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in South Sudan. The return programme partners also arranged for operating three river barges in May 2007. Return programme partners also operated three river barges to transport southern Sudanese from Kosti in the White Nile State to Malakal (the capital of Upper Nile State), and to Bor and Shambi in Jonglei State. Air operations started in June 2007 from Khartoum to Juba. At its preparatory stages, the IDP return programme involved a joint Sudan Information Campaign for Returns (SICR), which was led by UNICEF and conducted in the season 2006/2007 with participation of GoNU, GoSS and IOM. The SICR was focused on explanation of the verification process to ascertain the final intent of the IDPs that have already registered for 14
As reported in UNMIS/RRR 2008 Annual Report, “UN activities related to return and reintegration of IDPs have been guided by international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, as well as by the UN’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. The UN return and reintegration practices complemented a national IDP policy that was still under formal development during 2008. While the main role of the UN has remained one of supporting government in fulfilling its responsibility to protect and fi nd durable solutions for IDPs, in practical terms UN planning and programming have sought to build government capacity at all levels through a joint approach to co-ordination eff orts to promote sustainable return and reintegration.”
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voluntary return. The partners worked closely to provide thorough information on pre-departure arrangements, medical clearance and how the IDPs should get prepared for return. Food items for the returning IDPs were provided by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), while the non-food items were provided by UNICEF. Japan has provided funds for the IOM’s programmes in Darfur and also supported the IOM’s Facilitating Sustainable Return of IDPs (FSR) programme in 2007. The IDP return programme also included a Tracking and Monitoring component run by IOM for the purpose of collecting information on numbers of spontaneous north-south and south-south returns of IDPs. The tracking and monitoring of IDP returns is assisted by other UN agencies and international nongovernmental organizations, notably the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), and WFP. The data on Table 1 were released by the National Population Displacement Centre (and reported by the National Population Council, 2009). The figures reveal that IDP returns were substantial in 2007, with 42,167 IDPs being reported to have returned to their communities of origin (23,181 to southern Kordofan, and 18,986 to southern Sudan). Only 4 IDPs from Darfur were reported to have benefited from the organized IDP return programme. In 2008, registering for organized return was high among the IDPs living in Khartoum State camps. Table 2 reveals that 482,015 of the IDPs have registered for voluntary organized return, of whom 189,826 were from south Kordofan and 292,189 were from southern Sudan States.
However, the number of organized returns to southern Sudan during 2008, as reported by UNMIS/RRR15 (2009) was far
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Security Council Resolution 1590 mandated United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to “facilitate and co-ordinate, within its capabilities and areas of deployment, the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons”. To perform this function effectively, UNMIS created the Return, Reintegration and Recovery (RRR) section, reporting to the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General/Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator. In coordination with the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, RRR plans for the return and reintegration of internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) and refugees. It also supports the government in its own return/reintegration-related activities. http://www.unmis.org/English/rrr.htm
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Map 2: IOM/Sudan IDP Return Routes Map, Source: http://www.iom.ch/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/published _docs/brochures_and_info_sheets/sudan_newsletter_042007_en.pdf
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Table 1 Number of IDPs from Darfur, the Sothern Kordofan and southern Sudan who returned to their States of origin in 2007 State of origin
Number of returnees
Percent of total
South Kordofan South Darfur Upper Nile Western Bahr el Ghazal Northern Bahr el Ghazal Unity Jongolei Lakes Warrap Western Equatoria Central Equatoria Eastern Equatoria
23181 4 9647 212 1722 1550 1555 1330 2260 281 8 417
54.97 0.01 22.88 0.50 4.08 3.68 3.69 3.15 5.36 0.67 0.02 0.99
Total
42167
100.00
Source of raw data: The National Population Council, Sudan (2009)
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Table 2: Number of IDPs from the south Kordofan and southern Sudan in Khartoum State Camps who registered to return to their States of origin in 2008 (classified by age group and sex) State of Origin South Kordofan Upper Nile Western Bahr el Ghazal Northern Bahr el Ghazal Unity Jongolei Lakes Warrap Western Equatoria Central Equatoria Eastern Equatoria Total Group Total Group %
< 5 Years Male Female 18105 17949 3536 3595 1528 1598 6625
6566
4728 4708 716 767 942 1032 2564 2645 1030 937 4047 3861 1448 1455 45269 45113 90382 18.75%
5 – 13 Years Male Female 24716 24171 4836 4674 2241 2182 8717
8151
5958 5557 938 875 1370 1305 3530 3487 1464 1379 6211 5888 2227 2096 62208 59765 121973 25.30%
Age Group 14 – 17 Years Male Female 8901 8751 1975 1851 758 827 3022
2637
2193 1739 421 343 585 574 1432 1287 496 509 2474 2559 951 853 23208 22130 45338 9.41%
18 – 59 Years Male Female 37095 42172 7402 8095 4292 4049 16756
13917
7349 8839 2205 1817 2811 2566 5991 6151 3088 2877 11536 11702 3354 3455 101879 105640 207519 43.05%
> 59 Years Male Female 4062 3704 595 526 269 218 1194
Total 189826 37085 17962
866
68451
749 477 227 97 435 243 536 336 284 166 721 600 254 244 9326 7477 16803 3.49%
42297 8406 11863 27959 12230 49599 16337 482015 482015 100%
Males number = 241890 (50.18% of total). Females number = 240125 (48.82% of total) Source of data in the table: The National Population Council (2009). Migration and Population Movement in Sudan.
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smaller smaller, being 27, 844 (less than 10% of the registered number). Only 801 organized IDPs returns were reported by UNMIS for South Kordofan and the Blue Nile State during the same period. The estimate for spontaneous return of IDPs is much Higher, being 319,860 for the three regions (UNMIS/RRR, January 2009, p 4). However, the voluntary return of IDPs, whether organized or spontaneous seems to be progressing slowly. As noted by Assal (2006), in relation to IDPs, “the overall concern of both national and international organisations in the Sudan is the question of repatriation, although no substantive steps were taken to ensure the success of the process.”16 Boneza (2006)17, identified four main factors hindering the repatriation of IDPs to southern Sudan. These include:
A weakened infrastructure throughout southern Sudan, particularly in regards to transportation and basic services; The inherently unpredictable timetable of spontaneous returns; Chronic food insecurity; and Fear of violence caused by the presence in southern Sudan of the Ugandan insurgent Lord’s Resistance Army and other Sudanese militia groups.
16
Manzoul A. M. Assal (2006). Whose Rights Count? National and International Responses to Rights of IDPs in Sudan. http://www.migrationdrc.org/publications/research_reports/IDPS
Thus, voluntary return of IDPs to their areas of origin can be effectively facilitated through development of the infrastructure and the facilities needed for their engagement in sustainable livelihood activities upon their return. Policy Issues The policies needed for effective management of the population displacement in Sudan should in the first place be directed toward removal of the root causes behind the civil wars that plagued the country for decades. These primarily relate to the existence of interregional socio-economic inequalities and lack of equitable access to power, resources, and expression of political and cultural freedoms. Policies and programmes for voluntary return, reintegration and recovery of IDPs in Sudan should be actively pursued. However, it should be noted that some of IDPs who have established good careers in northern Sudan, especially in Khartoum State, may opt not to immediately return to their communities of origin. Since the IDP return is voluntary, an equal emphasis should be placed on providing IDPs with opportunities for improving their socioeconomic and overall humanitarian conditions, and the safeguarding of their human rights in the places of their choice for settlement. Policies in Sudan should be firmly directed toward preventing forced migration and forced relocation of IDPs as well. The United Nations 30 guiding principles on internal displacement call for protecting the humanitarian and human rights of displaced persons. The guiding Principle number 14 states that
17 Boneza (2006) Sudanese Internal Displaced People: Challenges for the Future Administration. http://www.author-me.com/nonfiction/sudaneseinternaldisplaced.htm
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“Every internally displaced person has the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his or her residence.”18 Because of the prevailing security problems, the Federal and state governments of Sudan have adopted plans that lead to permanent local integration of IDPs, rather than engaging in arrangements that will make return of the displaced population groups to their rural areas of origin more attractive. The long stay of IDPs in urban centres has developed among them an attitude that favours urban life styles. This is despite their perceived relative marginalization.
18
United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/principles.htm
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Chapter Three
International Refugees In and From Sudan This chapter displays the available statistics and current information on the international refugees residing in Sudan, the reasons for their exodus from the countries of origin, the assistance provided to refugees by governmental, nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies, the number of refugees who were granted asylum over the years, and the rates of voluntary repatriation and local integration of the different refugee groups. Available statistics and information on Sudanese refugees in other countries will also be featured in this chapter. The laws governing refugees in Sudan will be analyzed to reveal any limiting or inhibiting pitfalls that might exist. The performance of the institutions concerned with refugees will also be assessed. Refugees in Sudan For almost three decades, Sudan has been a haven for refugees fleeing their neighbouring countries of origin for safety or survival reasons. The devastating effects of famine and civil wars have forced them to cross the boarders seeking refuge and assistance. The data on Table 3 show the numbers of refugees in Sudan by country of origin and year - for the 27-year period from 1980 to 2006. All of the refugees were Africans, mainly from the neighboring countries of Ethiopia, Uganda, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Eritrea. The earlier flows during the 1980s came from Ethiopia (with a peak number of
870,000 in 1989), Uganda (with a peak number of 250,000 in 1984), Chad (with a peak of 120,000 in 1985), and Congo (with a peak of 5,000 in 1981). During the 1990s most of the refugees came from Eritrea (with a peak of 951,669 individuals in 1993), followed number wise by the Ethiopians (with a peak of 856,434 in 1991), Chadians (with a peak of 160,298 in 1992), Ugandans (with a peak of 46,000 in 1992), and Congolese (with a peak of 8,000 in 1997). Since 2000, the Eritreans constituted the largest refugee group, followed respectively by the Ethiopians, the Chadians, the Ugandans and the Congolese. A smaller number of Somalis (300) entered Sudan as refugees in 2002. The 2006 figures show that the predominant refugee group in Sudan were the Eritreans (431,611 individuals), followed by the Chadians (180,000), the Ethiopians (97,300), the Ugandan (6,400), the Congolese (4,100), and the Somalis (300). Thus, for about three decades, Sudan has continued to shelter large groups of refugees and asylum seekers. Table 4 includes data showing the breakdown of refugees in Sudan by type of residence in the period from 1998 to 2008. The general trend is a decline in the number of refugees living in camps (with a peak of 201,735 in 2000), as compared with those who lived outside the refugee camps, and an overall relative decrease in the number of refugee in Sudan during the same period, from a 958,429 in 1998 to 499,162 in 2008. Many of the refugees who lived in camps have left the camps for different reasons including loss of status, voluntary repatriation to their countries of origin, or else have been granted asylum by other receiving countries.
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Table 3: Number of refugees settled in Sudan by year during the period from 1980 to 2007 (classified by country of origin) Year
Refugee Country of Origin Chad Congo
Somalia
Total
1980 419000 77000 18000 4000 1981 440000 160000 20000 5000 1982 460000 170000 22000 5000 1983 500000 168000 1000 5000 1984 605000 250000 64000 5000 1985 782000 250000 120000 5000 1986 810000 230000 120000 5000 1987 750000 190000 120000 5000 1988 867820 120000 118000 4000 1989 870000 70000 120000 4000 1990 82303 40000 130113 4000 1991 856434 40000 130113 4000 1992 300000 46000 160298 4000 583536 1993 261034 43000 145669 4000 951669 1994 259164 43000 145797 4000 591669 1995 255450 42000 146100 4080 569140 1996 232376 43000 145848 3483 568811 1997 206880 8850 160514 8000 545614 1998 211450 8850 160413 8000 542186 1999 217355 7250 160500 5000 545038 2000 216000 7250 166052 5503 557069 2001 205000 7000 157000 5000 530020 2002 80000 7000 157000 5000 419744 300 2003 80000 6000 157000 5000 412650 2004 91000 6400 157000 5470 403219 30 2005 665332 6400 157000 5000 91400 13 2006 97300 6400 180000 4100 431611 300 2007 97415 6000 180250 2000 435429 700 Source of data: Office of the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees, reported by the National Population Council 2009
518000 625000 657000 674000 924000 1157000 1165000 1065000 1109820 1064000 256416 1030547 1093834 1405372 1043630 1016770 993518 929858 930899 935143 951874 904020 669044 660650 663119 925145 719711 721794
Ethiopia
Uganda
Eritrea
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Table 4: Number of refugees living inside and outside refugee camps in Sudan during the period 1998-2009
Year
Refugees in camps
Refugees off camps
Total
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
172671 180503 201735 152883 112744 104650 102219 97468 107930 127481 13662
785758 754690 750391 771600 556000 556000 560900 570235 611343 596313 480500
958429 935193 952126 924483 668744 660650 663119 667703 719273 723794 499162
Source of data: Office of the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees, reported by the National Population Council 2009
18
Table 5 displays the numbers or refugees who were voluntarily repatriated from Sudan to their home countries during the 15year period 1992-2006 (a total of 224,261 individuals). Most of the repatriated refugees of that period were from Eritrea (118,215 individuals), and the peak year for their repatriation was 2001 (when 32,211 of them were assisted by UNHCR and Sudan Government to return home. The number of repatriated Ethiopians during the same period amounted to 87,208. The numbers of the repatriated refugees from other nationalities included 13,976 Chadians, 2,959 Ugandans, and 1,916 Congolese; in addition to minor numbers of refugees from other countries. Table 6 includes statistics on the numbers of refugees who formerly lived in UNHCR-operated camps in Sudan and were granted asylum by other countries, mainly Australia, Canada, the United States of America, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland. The latter three countries granted asylum to the refugees mainly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, while Australia, Canada and Zealand granted asylum to larger numbers during the past 15 years. Other countries granted asylum to few of the refugees who were sheltered in Sudan. Among these are Denmark and the UK.
there is a considerable number of Sudanese refugees in Chad, because of the ongoing civil war of western Sudan. The total number of refugees from Sudan was estimated in 2007 to be about 628,500 (de Geoffroy, 2007)19, mostly from southern Sudan. The signing (in January 9, 2005) of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by the Government of Sudan and the southern Sudan's People Liberation Movement/Army (SPLAM/A), and its subsequent implementation, paved the way for the return of a substantial segment of the Sudanese refugees. Table 7 shows Sudanese refugee voluntary return figures for the 4-year period 2005-2008 (as recorded by the office of the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees). According to the figures in the table, 260,487 Sudanese refugees returned to Sudan by 2008, of that number 97,094 returned from Uganda, Kenya, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia through arrangements involving the implementation of separate tripartite agreements each signed by Sudan government, the respective neighbouring country, and the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Some 12,141 of the Sudanese refugees returned independently with assistance (mainly from Ethiopia and Egypt), but the majority (151,252) returned spontaneously with no assistance.
Refugees from Sudan The civil wars and political repression in Sudan has forced a substantial number of Sudanese nationals to seek refuge in other countries, mainly Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. The other African countries that provided shelter to substantial number of Sudanese refugees include the Republic of Central Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt. At present
19
Figure based on the United States Refugee and Immigrants, Country Reports (2007)
19
Table 5: Number of refugees who were voluntarily repatriated to their countries of origin in the years from 1992 to 2006 Repatriated Refugees by Nationality Year
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total
Ethiopian s 16 13769 10321 10410 27117 7518 7332
Eritreans
Ugandans
Chadians
4
2871 14 20
5387 8589
1212 9500
26000 32211 17216 9434 9499
13 87208
8728 15013
Congolese
Somalis
246 517
118105
Other nationalitie s
96
163 156
54
2
2959
832 1916
13976
1 1
96
Total
8278 22372 19315 25423 27730 7518 7332 163 27368 41711 17216 9434 9555 846 224261
Source of data: Office of the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees, reported by the National Population Council 2009
20
Table 6: Number of refugees in Sudan who were granted asylum by other countries during the period 1986-2006 Year
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total
The Countries that granted asylum to international refugees sheltered in Sudan Sudan New Burkina East Australia Zealand Canada Finland USA Sweden UK Denmark Faso Germany 70 47 4 6 1 70 100 38 42 5 107 337 94 198 172 4 86 112 145 9 2 14 10 1 24 5 3 6 3 27 1 3 5 1 197 108 15 2 97 21 26 9 2 214 189 7 2 2 8 5 225 54 15 3 1 226 63 12 2 151 57 20 11 85 13 99 14 269 7 18 12 435 9 170 6 168 22 142 1 290 15 245 322 1 398 2730 559 1359 128 1040 379 11 23 2 6
Total
127 171 80 112 337 468 352 27 41 37 322 155 427 298 303 239 211 306 620 333 550 721 6237
Source of data: Office of the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees, reported by the National Population Council 2009
21
Table 7: Number of Sudanese refugees who were repatriated or voluntarily returned to Sudan in the period 2005-2008 Country
Republic of Central Africa Congo
Voluntary Return involving tripartite agreements 2006 2007 2008 Total Year Year Year
Voluntary Return with assistance 2005 Year
2006 Year
2007 Year
2008 Total Year
Voluntary Spontaneous Return with no assistance 2005 2006 2007 Total Year Year Year
All Return Types State Total
3262
5154
8416
1285
41
1326
9556
9556
19298
5550
963
6513
869
973
1842
33496
33496
41851
5749
17108
41286
64143
31
86
226
838
16383
59241
75624
140605
1807
4767
8081
14655
133
379
27
539
30
14365
20061
35255
4625
17631
9700
3156
1312
2268
149
3878
10706
1495
12201
19235
43
881
1602
589
3704
102
102
3806
3
3
3
6
212
212
221
8
Uganda 495
Kenya 5666
Ethiopia Egypt Eritrea 3 Other countries Total
3
196
9
208
5
3
20996
45822
59076
97094
215
4818
5137
1233
12141
216 70485
5666
75101
151252
260487
Source of raw data: Office of the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees, reported by the National Population Council 2009
22
The first official voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees to southern Sudan, following the signing in January 2006 of the first tripartite refugee return agreement, was arranged by UNHCR from Kenya where some 150 refugees (out of 71,000 Sudanese refugees who were in Kakuma camp) were transported to southern Sudan by road and air in December 2005. The total number of Sudanese refugees who were in Kenya at the start of the repatriation operations was estimated to be about 168,000, mostly sheltered in refugee camps in the western districts of Arwa, Hoima, Masindi and Moyo. The tripartite agreement between Sudan, the democratic Republic of Congo and UNHCR was signed in January 2006 and arranged for repatriation of 13,300 Sudanese refugees to Sudan and 6,800 Congolese from Sudan to the Congo. In February 2006, a similar agreement was signed by the governments of Sudan, the Central African Republic and UNHCR for reciprocal repatriation of refugees. UNHCR arrangements for repatriation of about 73,000 Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia commenced in March 2006, following the signing of a tripartite agreement committing the Sudan, Ethiopia and UNHCR to provide the needed support for facilitating the return of Sudanese refugees, mainly to southern Sudan and the Blue Nile State. Most of Sudanese refugees who were sheltered by Ethiopia came mainly in 1983 and the 1990s from the places that were engulfed in the civil war.20 In April 20 As explained in UNMIS 2008 Annual Report, “UNHCR has facilitated the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees under tripartite agreements with the governments of countries of asylum and the Government of National Unity, in close collaboration with the Government of Southern Sudan through SSRRC. Organized repatriation of registered refugees has been characterized by the provision of full assistance, including transport and a return package of food, NFIs, seeds
2006 a similar agreement was signed by Sudan and Uganda and UNHCR for reciprocal repatriation of refugees. The number of Sudanese from western Sudan who more recently crossed the border to seek refuge in Chad, because of the on-going civil war, is estimate to be about 200,000. Their repatriation will depend on the establishment of peace and security in the region. According the UNHCR Annual Report input 2008, cited in UNMIS 2008 Annual Report, some 60,564 Sudanese refugees (constituting 16,713 families) returned to Sudan: 41,908 from Uganda, 10,215 from Ethiopia, 8,423 from Kenya, 8 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 4 from Tanzania, 3 from Liberia, 2 from Zambia, and 1 from Botswana. The cumulative number of IDP and refugee returns to southern Sudan States and the Three Areas (southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei) for the period 2004-2008 is estimated by UNMIS to be 2.2379 million. Most of the returnees were received by States in southern Sudan and south Kordofan State in the north. The breakdown by state is given in Table 8. On grounds of the figures reported above, IDP and refugee return programmes are progressing well, but the achievement of more return will depend on the intent to return among the IDPs and refugees who are still in there displacement areas. and tools upon arrival. This reintegration package, as well as predeparture assistance, has also been provided to registered refugees who make their return known to UNHCR but travel by their own means under assisted self-repatriation. The refugees who have returned by their own means and have not received individual assistance from UNHCR are classified as spontaneous returnees and may benefit from communitybased reintegration projects (CBRPs) and other early reintegration assistance in areas of return.
23
Table 8: Cumulative Returns IDP and Refugee Returns 2004 to 2008
State NBeG South. Kordofan Central Equatoria Jonglei Upper Nile Warrab Unity Western Equatoria Lakes Eastern Equatoria WBeG Blue Nile Abyei Krt & Others Total 3 Areas Total South Grand Total
IDP UN/IOM Organized Returns 27,084 5,681 32,404 18,551 18,203 16,197 10,510 13,018 1,995 47,645 3,188 23,836 0 2,260 29,517 188,795 220,572
Other Organized 34,759 3,473 1,036 9,247 1,754 5,874 1,571 187 1,179 8,282 11,755 55,607 67,362
Total Spontaneous Returns 2004-2008 420,000 290,000 190,000 185,000 152,000 160,000 150,000 145,000 110,000 55,000 1,179 13,000 10,000 0 313,000 1,637,000 1,950,000
Total Returns 20042008 481,843 299,154 222,404 204,587 179,450 177,951 166,384 158,018 113,566 102,832 74,367 36,836 18,282 2,260 354,272 1,881,402 2,237,934
Source: UNMIS/RR 2008 Annual Report – Based on information from OCHA, UNHCR, IOM and RRR Field offices
24
The policy of Sudan concerning refugees
3- The law of Organizing Migration for the year 1974.
We must acknowledge that Sudan had lacked a clear policy towards refugees until 1965, the year when Sudan decided to give the Congolese the right to enter Sudan. Subsequently, Sudan joined the international family by signing all international and regional agreements that provides protection and financial aid to refugees, and set special national bodies that cater for refugees such as the National Council for Refugees.
Article (2) of the 1974 law defines the word refugee as; "Every person who leaves their country of origin in fear of suppression, or danger because of a race, religion, any political or social group or in fear of war, colonization, foreign control or internal disputes, and can not and do not want to return to their country of origin.” The definition of a refugee also includes children who are not accompanied by adults, and who are orphans because of war and the ones whose guardians have disappeared and are placed outside their countries of origin.
The currently adopted open-door policy of Sudan concerning refugees is founded on internationally recognized principles: 1) Giving the right to refuge is a humanitarian act and does not target a person or a country. 2) Encouraging the voluntary return of refugees to their countries of origin as their optimal choice with the consent and approval of the refugee himself as well as his country. 3) When all trails fail in reaching suitable solutions, those refugees can reside far from the common international borders between the host and home countries to guarantee the safety of both the country and the refugee. At present, refugee policy in Sudan is guided by: 1- Sudan's commitment to international and regional agreements as a general framework from which all legislations are to emerge. This framework appears clearly in article (7) of the law of organizing migration for the year 1974. 2- International and Regional Commitment to refugee's basic rights.
The national capital and the other major cities follow certain procedures in order to control those refugees who are without work and jeopardizing the public safety and security. These procedures require that the refugee must have an entry pass specifying the reasons for which he is in the city. The agreement of the African Unity Organization did not include an article that guarantees for the refugee the freedom of mobility and movement. However, the only restriction in the agreement calls for establishment of refugees' camps in places far from the borders for the sake of protection of the refugees themselves (Article Number 2). Article (11) of the Law of Organizing Migration implies that a refugee can be expelled in certain cases, for example "If his presence puts the national internal and external security at risk." The law of the Sudanese Nationality of 1957 provides protection of vagrant refugee children from expelling, as article (6) of that law states that a minor who
25
was found abandoned or from unknown parents is considered Sudanese until the opposite is proven. Right and Duties of refugees in the 1974 Law of Migration Article (10) of the 1974 Law of Migration states that a refugee is subject to all public laws that apply to all Sudanese. This article also makes it legal to detain a refugee if considered necessary. Article (2) of the same law states that a refugee is not allowed leaving the place specified for his residency, and in the case of any violation he will be subjected to detention as a penalty. The same article restricts the freedom of forming societies and unions that serve political purposes. A refugee is not allowed to practice any political activity while he is in Sudan, and it doesn’t interfere with article (15) of the agreement of Geneva of year 1951 which restricts the refugees' rights to organize to non–political and profitable activities only. In spite of all these precautions with regards to the freedom of mobility, we find that article (12) of the 1974 law has given the Ministry of Interior the authority to issue passports for refugees if it wishes. And also the Minister of Foreign Affairs is authorized to issue diplomatic passports to certain refugees in some exceptional cases. The right to work was stated in article (14). It allows any refugee to work in any job except for the ones related with the security of the country and the national defense. Work can only be after obtaining a permit from the labor office and handing a copy of it to the Ministry of Interior.
Article number (23) of the labor force law of year 1974 excludes the refugees from the procedures regarding employment of foreigners in Sudan. Based on that, the ministry of labor issued a statement requesting from all regional labor offices to issue a work permit for any refugee who finds a job or an employer just as any other citizen. In practical application of this policy, a refugee must prove that he is registered by handing a letter from the refugees committee before he can be given the work permit. As for the rights of ownership, the article number (9) of the 1974 has restricted the rights of owning land or property in Sudan. This article interferes with the article number (13) of the agreement which obligates all countries to treat the refugee with the best treatment possible. The law of 1974 did not state any commitment of the government towards facilitating the acquirement of the Sudanese nationality by refugees. However, article number (8) of the law of the Sudanese Nationality of year 1957 can form the foundation for such a commitment. The law which organizes the entry, registration, residency and expelling of foreigners in general is the Law of Travel and Migration for the year 1960, where article (27) assigned special regulations for monitoring the foreigners, such as the significance of registration and issuing ID cards and the restrictions of hotels and public houses when dealing with foreigners. Article (30) of the same law named procedures for expelling foreigners in certain cases, and since refugees are a special category of foreigners and governed be a special law, their handling would be according to that law. 26
Chapter Four
Rates and Trends of Internal and External Migration in Sudan This fourth chapter will be devoted to review of available literature and statistics that reveal the magnitude and trends of in and out migration in Sudan. A segment of the chapter will be devoted to analysis out migration and the rates of return of the professional and non-professional members of the national labour force. The laws governing migration in relation to national and the foreigners will be analyzed to reveal any limiting or inhibiting pitfalls that might exist. The performance of the institutions concerned with migration will be assessed. Sudan is divided into 25 major regional administrative divisions (States). Fifteen of these States are in northern Sudan and 10 are located in southern Sudan. The distribution of Sudan’s population by State, based on the 2008 5th Population and Housing Census, is shown in Table 9. The total population is estimated to be 39,154,490, with 30,891,000 in northern Sudan (of which about 7,515445 are in Darfur), and 8,263,490 in southern Sudan. Most of the populated states are in northern Sudan, with Khartoum state being the most densely populated State in the country (with a population of 5,274,321), followed in terms of population size by southern Darfur State (4,515,445), the Gezira State (3,575,280), and North Kordofan State (2,920,992). In southern Sudan, the most populated States are Jongolei (1,358,602) and Central Equatoria (1,103,592). The population distribution figures by state give a general picture of internal migration in Sudan, as the States that are
known to be rich in resources and have achieved relatively more socio-economic development seem to have attracted large segments of the country’s population, and this applies mostly to Khartoum State. Most of the internally displaced persons by reasons of environmental deterioration and the civil wars have moved to the more developed States of the country. The figures in Table 10, which are based on the returns of the 1993 Sudan population census, attest to the same by revealing that positive net in migration percentages were achieved by the relatively more resource rich and developed States of Khartoum, AlGadarif, Southern Darfur, and Red Sea. Generally the main reason for internal migration in Sudan is search for better livelihood conditions. In Sudan, internal migration was a common place even during the times when the country enjoyed relative stability. However, internal migration became more intensive during the past three decades, and the people on the move are mainly those who were impacted by the deterioration of the natural resources on which they depend for survival. Internal migration is sometimes only seasonal for wage earning in the large scale irrigated farming projects where seasonal work opportunities are found, as for example in the major agricultural schemes of Al Gezira, the Rahad and New Halfa, and in the mechanized rain-fed agricultural schemes. Seasonal work is also found in the agro-industrial projects, particularly in the sugar production factories. On the other hand, a large segment of Sudan’s population is leading a nomadic way of life that requires constant movement with the herds in a constant seasonal pattern.
27
Table 9: Distribution of Sudan’s population by State – Based on results of Sudan’s 5th Population and Housing Census Northern Sudan States State Northern River Nile Red Sea Kassala Al-Gadarif Khatoum Al-gazira White Nile Sinnar Blue Nile Northern Kordufan Southern Kordufan Northern Darfur West Darfur Southern Darfur Total
Southern Sudan Satates Population Size State 699,065 Upper Nile 1,120,441 Jonglei 1,396,110 Unity 1,789,806 Warrap 1,348,378 Northern Bahr-El-Ghazal 5,274,321 Western Bahr-El-Ghazal 3,575,280 Lakes 1,730,588 Western Equatoria 1,285,058 Central Equatoria 832,112 Eastern Equatoria 2,920,992 1,406,404 2,113,626 1,308,225 4,093,594 30,891,000 Total Total Sudan Population = 39,154,490
Population Size 964,353 1,358,602 585,801 972,928 720,898 333,431 695,730 619,029 1,103,592 906,126
8,263,490
Source of data: Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Sudan
28
Table 10: Volume of internal in and out migration in Sudan by State – Based on 1993 Census data In Migration Out Migration Net Migration Number % Number % Number (to nearest Million) (to nearest Million) (to nearest Million) Northern 0.05 1.6 0.20 6.8 - 0.20 River Nile 0.05 1.5 0.20 5.6 - 0.10 Red Sea 0.10 3.4 0.04 1.2 0.07 Kassala 0.10 4.2 0.09 2.6 0.05 Al-Gadarif 0.20 6.8 0.07 2.1 0.20 Khatoum 1.50 45.1 0.10 3.3 1.40 Al-gazira 0.30 8.5 0.30 8.1 0.01 Sinnar 0.08 2.5 0.10 3.8 - 0.05 White Nile 0.20 5.2 0.20 5.9 - 0.03 Blue Nile 0.09 2.7 0.03 0.8 0.06 Northern Kordufan 0.09 2.7 0.30 10.0 - 0.20 Western Kordufan 0.10 3.0 0.20 5.1 - 0.07 Southern Kordofan 0.07 2.0 0.40 10.8 - 0.30 Northern Darfur 0.05 1.6 0.20 6.3 - 0.20 Western Darfur 0.05 1.4 0.30 8.8 - 0.30 Southern Darfur 0.03 7.8 0.20 5.1 0.09 Upper Nile --------0.07 2.1 - 0.07 Unity --------0.02 0.6 - 0.02 Jonglei --------0.01 0.3 - 0.01 Northern Bahr-El-Ghazal --------0.20 5.2 - 0.02 Western Bahr-El-Ghazal --------0.07 1.9 - 0.07 Lakes --------0.02 0.5 - 0.02 Warrap --------0.03 0.8 - 0.03 Central Equatoria (Bahr el Jabal) --------0.05 0.5 - 0.05 Western Equatoria --------0.01 0.3 - 0.01 Eastern Equatoria --------0.01 0.4 - 0.01 Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Analysis report on 1993 population census State
% - 5.3 - 4.0 2.2 1.6 4.8 45.1 - 0.4 - 1.4 - 0.7 1.9 - 3.7 - 2.1 - 8.9 - 4.7 - 7.4 2.7 - 2.1 - 0.1 - 0.5 - 5.2 - 1.9 - 0.5 - 1.8 - 1.5 - 0.3 - 0.4
29
Table 11: Magnitude and trends of internal migration in northern Sudan Number of internal migrants to the nearest million by Type of migration State of origin Northern River Nile Red Sea Kassala Al-Gadarif Khartoum Al-Gazira Sinnar White Nile Blue Nile Northern Kordufan Western Kordufan Southern Kordofan Northern Darfur Western Darfur Southern Darfur Total
Urban/ urban 0.008 0.02 0.07 0.04 0.05 0.7 0.07 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.004 0.05 1.232
Rural/urban 0.008 0.02 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.7 0.04 0.02 0.04 0.02 0.03 0.008 0.007 0.009 0.005 0.04 1.039
Urban/rural 0.02 0.005 0.001 0.01 0.04 0.03 0.05 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.006 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.008 0.04 0.302
Rural/rural 0.02 0.004 0.001 0.06 0.01 0.07 0.1 0.02 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.1 0.615
Total 0.056 0.049 0.112 0.14 0.13 1.5 0.26 0.08 0.18 0.09 0.096 0.108 0.077 0.059 0.037 0.23 3.333
Source of data: National Population Council, figures computed from the Migration and workforce survey 1996
30
Rates and trends of internal migration in Sudan
Rates and trends of external migration in Sudan
Table 11 shows figures reflecting the number of internal migrants, by type of in migration, in the different states of northern Sudan (based on a migration and work force survey
External migration of by nationals in Sudan began in the 1970, but it became more intensified from the 1970s and the following three decades. External migration is mostly motivated by a desire for economic gain, given the limited absorptive capacity of the available internal employment opportunities, especially as applies to the conditions that have prevailed in the country in the past two decades. Unfair policies and tactics were used by the ruling Islamist regime to control the civil service and all institutions under direct government control by ousting all political opponents, or those who they regard as potential political opponents, from their positions and replacing them within less qualified members of the Islamist cadre and the hypocritical supporters. That policy had devastating psychological and socio-economic effects on the ousted people and their families, and has forced many of the unfairly ousted ex-government employees to seek external migration opportunities. Many of them left the country with no legal work contracts in the hands, counting on their education qualification and work experience and the existing chances for employment abroad.
that was conducted in 1996). According the data in the table, most of the internal migration in the country was of the urban to urban type (involving about 1.2 32 million persons at the time), followed in size by rural to urban migration (1.039 million), rural to rural (.615 million) and urban to rural (.302 million). The figures suggest that urban centers constitute a strong pull force to internal migration, and seemingly rural to urban migrations generally involve migration to urban market towns of the rural areas, and from there to major urban centers either in the same State or to another State with more livelihood opportunities. People are free to move, with no official restrictions, to any place in their own country. Recent unrestricted population movements in large masses to the urban centers and more resource endowed rural areas in the country have resulted from population displacements caused by drought and the civil wars. Normally, younger and more educated males tend to migrate to urban centers, and the illiterate and less educated members of the population tend to remain in their areas of origin (see Table 12). However, the drought that affected western Sudan and the civil wars have created situations forcing whole families and communities to migrate collectively to areas in which they can find assistance and means for stating new livelihoods (mainly to urban areas).
Another category of Sudan’s population who has an inclination to opt for external migration is constitutes by the thousands of university graduates who remain unemployed or underemployed for years. The total number of Sudanese migrants who left Sudan for working in other countries with processed legal contracts in their hands prior to their departures during the ten-year period 1998-2007 is reported as 2222,437.
31
Table 12: Distribution of Sudan’s internal migrants by sex, age group and level of education (a) Distribution of Sudan’s internal migrants by age group
Less than 25 years 25 – 39 years 40 – 49 years More than 49 years Undetermined Total
Urban Residents % 20.7 38.4 5.3 2.2 4.8 71.4
Rural Residents % 8.7 16.2 2.0 1.1 0.6 28.6
Males % 24.7 45.9 6.4 3.1 5.0 85.1
Females % 4.8 8.7 0.8 0.3 0.3 14.9
Total % 29.5 54.6 7.3 3.4 5.3 100.0
(b) Distribution of Sudan’s internal migrants by level of education Level of education Illiterate Primary school Intermediate School Secondary School University Total
Urban Residents % 3.7 6.7 8.4 29.1 23.5 71.4
Rural Residents % 10.4 3.9 4.5 8.1 1.7 28.6
Males % 11.5 8.9 10.1 31.3 23.2 85.1
Females % 2.5 1.7 2.8 5.9 2.0 14.9
Total % 14.0 10.6 12.9 37.3 25.2 100.0
Source of raw data: National Population Council, Migration and Workforce Survey 1996
32
The yearly breakdown of that number by years and the receiving countries is displayed in Table 13. From the figures, most of the Sudanese working abroad who left with contracts duly processed by the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resources Development were received by Saudi Arabia. Substantial numbers are employed in the United Arab Emirate, Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman. Minor members took jobs in Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. Fewer numbers got jobs in Lebanon, Great Britain and other western countries. The breakdown of employment abroad for the year 2007 by occupation and country is given in Table 14. The figures in the table show that majority were employed in agriculture and fisheries occupations, and work as plant and machine operators and assemblers. More of the high caliber professionals were employed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman and Qatar. Much larger numbers of the Sudanese external migrants employed in foreign countries around the world during the two-year period 2005-2006 appeared in the records of the Bureau for Organizing the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad. The data in Table 15 show the number of Sudanese employed in the African and Arab countries, while Table 16 reveals the number of Sudanese external migrants working in American, Asian and European countries. From the two tables, and the average number of Sudanese working abroad during the two-year period 2005-2006, most of the members of the Sudanese labour force abroad are employed in Arab countries (with an average of 678,540 persons), the European countries (with an average of 1,805 persons), the American countries of USA and Canada (with an average of 839 persons), the Asian countries (with an average of 594 persons), and the African countries came last (with an average of 479 persons).
A significant number of the Sudanese who migrated to other countries for work eventually became permanent residents and citizens of the receiving countries. Table 17 gives a breakdown of the number of Sudanese who were granted citizenships by the host countries. Most of the members of the Sudanese labour force that were granted permanent residence during the less than three years period (between 5/12/2005 and 2/9/2008) for which the figures are displayed in Table 17 live in European countries (a total of 5,964 persons), the United States (3,682 persons), Canada (1564 persons), and Australia (759 persons). Great Britain ranked first by granting permanent residence to some 3,811 Sudanese during the same period. Because of the governments monopolistic and politicized employment policy, the limited absorptive capacity of the private sector, and the prevailing poverty conditions, many of the experienced and qualified members of the Sudanese labour force, and multiplying thousands of unemployed college graduates, are all forced to seek employment opportunities in other countries. Corrective policy measures are therefore needed for redressing the situation.
33
Table 13: Sudanese working abroad with legal contracts, classified by receiving country for the years 1998-2007 Year
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Country Receiving Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Qatar
Total
15680 86
39170 1143
33361 1386
28802 1358
28834 994
17392 1001
14904 1010
9885 792
6825 813
11641 1015
206494 9598
254
485
742
530
494
312
272
252
478
655
4474
11
20
38
147
227
120
146
170
879
19
42
235
42
85
121
56
119
749
20
8
7
2
1
5
69
25
9
4
1
3
7
56
4
1
1
1
47
4
4
25
2
1 1
4 3
Kuwait Sultanate of Oman
13
17
Bahrain
26
Yemen
3
4
Jordan
14
21
3
1
1
6
3
5
3
Libya Lebanon Great Britain Other countries Total
1 2 1
1
16051
40847
35551
9
2
6
30761
30650
18921
16514
10
10
11184
8339
39 13619
222437
Source of data: Bureau for Organizing the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad, Ministry of Labour, Public Services & Human Resources Development, Sudan
34
Table 14: Sudanese migrants working abroad with legal contracts, classified by occupation for the year 2007 Occupation
Country Receiving
Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Qatar Kuwait Sultanate of Oman
Professional s and Scientists
Managers and Administrato rs
Technician s
Clerks and Accountant s
Sales and Service s worker s
Agricultur e, animal husbandry and hunting
Handicraft s Workers
Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers
Elementary Occupation s
442
21
253
99
986
5423
454
3366
597
11641
100
37
29
77
113
347
51
76
185
1015
34
10
5
16
87
302
14
58
129
655
19
86
4
16
45
170
1
31
119
2
5
2
7
68
Bahrain
2
Yemen
5
Jordan
1
Libya
3
5
4
1
9 1
Total
1 1
4
Lebanon
1
1
Great Britain
1
1
994
13619
Total
655
73
291
193
1215
6158
523
3517
Source of data: The statistical records of the Bureau for Organizing the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad, Ministry of Labour, Public Services & Human Resources Development, Sudan
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Table 15: Number of Sudanese external migrants working in African and Arab countries in the years 2005, 2006
African Countries Year 2005 Country Chad Kenya Somalia Ethiopia Uganda 41 39 South Africa Eritrea Djibouti Zambia 19 19 Zimbabwe Malawi Tanzania Senegal Central African Republic Total
143 57 38 32 39 31 23 14 19 16 14 13 10 0 449
2006 155 61 43 44 41 37 29 21 19 16 14 14 5 10 509
Arab Countries Year 2005
2006
456074 52445 51843 45901 19352 16105 8525 6437 1296 1283 783 470 416 40 30 26 661,026
481397 55007 52105 49746 19442 17592 8919 6802 1388 1338 953 729 530 47 32 26 696,053
Country Saudi Arabia Libya Iraq United Arab Emirates Yemen Qatar Kuwait Oman Jordan Bahrain Egypt Lebanon Syria Morocco Tunisia Algeria Total
Source of data: Central Bureau of Statistics Reports, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Sudan – Based on statistics provided by the Bureau for Organizing the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad, Ministry of Labour, Public Services & Human Resources Development, Sudan
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Table 16: Number of Sudanese external migrants working in Asian and European countries in the years 2005-2006 Asian Countries Year 2005 Country Pakistan India Malaysia Indonesia Bangladesh China Japan Philippines Azerbaijan
2006 131 91 130 45 23 57 63 17 11 638
2006
Country England France Italy Germany Greece Switzerland Netherlands Ireland Russian Federation Turkey Spain Belgium Sweden Austria Portugal Norway Poland Hungary Yugoslavia
684 774 178 204 161 189 102 122 86 102 77 90 55 68 51 65 44 51 47 50 Total 43 46 28 38 North American Countries 28 38 Year 2005 2006 Country 28 28 United States 672 879 8 26 Canada 127 0 13 18 11 13 Total 799 879 11 11 10 12 Total 1,664 1,945 Denmark 10 11 Source of data: Central Bureau of Statistics Reports, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Sudan – Based on statistics provided by the Bureau for Organizing the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad, Ministry of Labour, Public Services & Human Resources Development, Sudan
116 79 42 116 115 46 22 13 0 549
European Countries Year 2005
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Table 17 Number of Sudanese migrants who were granted citizenships by host countries between 5/12/2005 and 2/9/2008 Host country granting citizenship to Sudanese migrants Great Britain The United States of America Canada The Netherlands Australia Germany Ireland Bahrain Chad India Sweden France Eritrea Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Norway Yemen Other countries Total
Number of Citizenships granted
Percent of total
3811 3682 1509 779 759 594 335 238 217 165 163 161 154 137 134 121 102 1038 14,099
27.03 26.12 10.70 5.53 5.38 4.21 2.38 1.69 1.54 1.17 1.16 1.14 1.09 0.97 0,95 0.86 0.72 7.36 100.00
Source of data: Bureau for organizing the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad, Ministry of Labour, Public Services & Human Resources Development, Sudan
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Chapter Five
Migration Laws in Sudan The socio-political and economic conditions in Sudan have been lately getting relatively more attractive for people from different parts of the world, and the country has witnessed an influx of foreigners in recent years. This is to a great extent due to two major factors: (1) the halting of the war in the South and enforcement of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement, and (2) the successful exploration of oil. Both of these factors have brought about relative political stability and economic advancement in the country, and have thus created better conditions encouraging in migration of members of the international labour force.. Incoming migration to Sudan takes two shapes:
Legal migration Illegal migration
Legal migration is in conformity with the accepted principles and procedures of the enforced migration laws that govern the movement of expatriates from other countries to Sudan. The relevant laws are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The Refugee Law (1974). Sudanese Nationality Act of 1994 Passport and Migration Law 1994 The Investment law of (1999) modified (2003) Law of employment of foreigners of (2001) Procedures and regulations of the Year (2006)
Illegal migration is practiced by people who enter the country and stay without legal eligibility. It takes place in different situations: 1) When people legally enter the country for certain period of time and special purpose, but extend their stay beyond that. 2) In other cases some people enter the country without entry visas or any other legal arrangements. 3) Those that enter the country without any documents to prove their original home country or a nationality from the countries they claim to belong to. Because of their violation of the country’s migration laws, they can stay in custody for a long times because they cannot be deported, as no country is obliged to accommodate persons with no legal documents. In all cases the Commission for Foreigners' Affairs and Control is the body responsible for the enforcement of incoming-migration laws. It is fully responsible for the coordination and follow-up of foreigners through monitoring and control of documents/records and information, and the coordination of the needed arrangements with other authorities as relevant bodies, such as the police, the border control offices and the international NGOs that are concerned with such issues . The following are brief accounts about the different laws relating to migration in Sudan: 1. The Refugee Law (1974): The 1974 law has defined the refugee, and stated the rules for granting the refugees the legal status (asylum) and the right of stay, and the regulations for the work
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permit as well as the cases where a refugee is to be deported from the country. 2. Sudanese Nationality Act of 1994. The conditions and qualifications for the granting of Sudanese nationality in Sudan is governed and regulated by the provision of the Sudanese Nationality Act of 1994. Any person born before the law was enacted is regarded as Sudanese if:
He has acquired and maintained the status of Sudanese by descent. Either he or his father was born in Sudan. He, at the coming into force of the said Act, is domiciled since January 1956, or else whose ancestors in the direct male line since that date have all been domiciled in Sudan. A person who was not born in Sudan and whose father was not born in Sudan may apply to the Minister of Interior for an order that he deemed to be Sudanese by descent. A person born after the enactment of the Act shall be deemed to be Sudanese by descent if his father is Sudanese by descent at the time of birth. A person born to parents who are Sudanese by naturalization shall be deemed to be Sudanese by descent if his parents have obtained the Sudanese Nationality by naturalization before his birth.
The Minister of Interior may grant a certificate of naturalization as a Sudanese to an alien who is defined
in the law as a person who is not Sudanese on condition that he:
Is of full age and capacity He has been domiciled in Sudan for a period of five years or more He is of a good character and has not been convicted of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude. He will not be granted the certificate of naturalization before fulfilling an oath of alliance according to the lawfully accepted wording. The Minister is authorized to include the underage children to the naturalization certificate of their father; hence they all become Sudanese by naturalization since that date.
The Minister of Interior has the authority to grant a certificate of naturalization to an alien woman if she could prove that:
Married to a Sudanese in accordance with the laws. She has resided with her husband in Sudan for a continuous period of not less than two years from the date of such an application.
The head of state has the authority, in accordance with the advice of the Minister of Interior, to offer the naturalization certificate to a non-Sudanese. Refugees are not allowed to apply for a certificate of naturalization, as this will conflict with the laws and 40
international agreements regulating the existence of refugees in Sudan. Any resident in Sudan, regardless of his religion, beliefs, or ethnic origin has the right to enjoy naturalization unless otherwise has been deprived from such rights by the President of the Republic where:
He has obtained the naturalization certificate by fraud, or gave false information. During any war in which Sudan is involved, he has unlawfully got involved with the enemy of the country or has any trade or exchange with that enemy. Has been convicted or engaged in espionage against Sudan. If out of Sudan, has shown himself by act or speech to be disloyal or disaffected towards Sudan, or he has been convicted of such an offence in Sudan. He, within five years after the date of naturalization, has been sentenced in any country to imprisonment for a term not less than one year, for an offence involving moral turpitude.
3. Passport and Migration Law 1994: This is the law dealing mainly with the legal arrangements for issuing passports, identity cards and travel documents as well as all forms of entry/exit permissions and places to offer them. The law is comprehensive, including all people Sudanese and nonSudanese with regards to passports and visa issuance. The following are the most important aspects highlighted in the document:
Particularly this law considers it essential for nonSudanese to have legal status and valid permission to stay in Sudan, or else be considered as violating the law and could be sued. The law also deals with control over the legal documents (passports and IDs) and the need to inform the authorities in case of loss or damage of any of these documents. The law states that it is important for people leaving the country to get an exit visa in the normal situations, while in some other situations the law has stated the regulations and procedures in case of deportation from the country. The law also clarifies the roles and responsibilities of air/sea captains in acting as part of the team to conduct any needed interrogations for suspect passengers to help enforcing the migration law well ahead in time and places. In the last chapter, the law deals with identifying the different criminal actions relevant to migration, visas and residence rights and has stated the procedures and the legal punishments according to the law.
Some details of this 1994 law can be highlighted as follows: o It is not permitted for non-Sudanese to enter the country unless they hold a valid entry visa. o Entry visas should be offered by the authority and stamped on valid passports for the intended period of stay in the country.
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o Entry visa should not be granted (1) in case a person is considered as a criminal fleeing the law, or wanted by the police authority, (2) in case a person does not have a source of income or means to earn a living, and (3) in case a person is medically unfit, suffering from dangerous communicable or mental disease (unless seeking healthcare). o To leave the country, every person over 18 years must get an exit visa. This is not necessary for visitors who stay less than three month. 4. Investment law of (1999) modified (2003): This document is primarily concerned with the economical dimension of people's movement towards Sudan. It identifies the need to encourage foreign investment in Sudan, and highlights the benefits, exemptions, and procedures for investing in Sudan, besides it sets the rules in case of violating the licensing law. This law extends to be read within the framework of other laws (foreigner's employment) to deal with employment of experts and skilled labor from nonSudanese as a mechanism to encourage investments in lines of businesses of scarce national expertise. 5. Law of employment of foreigners of 2001: The law dealing with the employment of non-Sudanese is considered as an extra procedure of control of the migration of people to Sudan. The 2001 employment law states that it is not allowed for any non-Sudanese person (even if legally staying in the country) to hold a job and be legally employed unless he/she gets a work permit with the approval of the ministry of labor and human resource development. The work permit is
conditional to other regulations part of which is already part of the migration and passport law, 1974. In this regard, the laws states that: o Work permit is conditional that no natives (Sudanese) are available to fulfill the requirements of the specific job. o Any non-Sudanese holding valid residence in the country and have acquired the legal documents necessary to prove his/her ID will have a priority for a work permit than those to enter the country upon request of the work permit. o Work permit should not be offered before the legal age (21 years) proven by authentic documents. o Amongst non-Sudanese, priority for a work permit is for people from the Arab and African nationality. Work permit is liable to many other rules and procedures covering more aspects governing the job status and relations with the authorities, the employer and other parties. Some of these rules could be summarized as follows:
Application for the work permit should be done by the employer
It should be supported by a contract which arranges the relationship between the employer and the employee such as the right to travel expenses, the right to maintain the job with the employer and not to seek other jobs without permission and the right to terminate the 42
contract by the employer in case of failure to do the work for which the work permit was granted. As part of the policy of the ministry of labor and human resource development to build capacity of the Sudanese workforce, any foreign employer must train a Sudanese employee, with the relevant qualification, to be able to do the same job to 'Sudanese' such jobs. A report should be prepared every six month showing the progress and the constraints facing the training process. The authorities have the right to visit the locations of the employment of the nonSudanese and examine all the records and reports pertinent to the status of these employees, and the level of abiding to the laws and regulations.
6. Procedures and regulations of the Year (2006): In 2006 a committee has been formulated to control the enforcement of the law regarding non-Sudanese in aspects such as the passport and migration law and the labor law. This committee consists of members from many relevant bodies namely the police, Ministries of Justice, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Refugee and Humanitarian Commissioner, and the Security and Intelligence office. The committee is responsible for coordination between all these authorities and preparing
periodical reports showing the overall situation of foreigners in the country to help in proper planning and control over their movement. Legal framework for employment of foreign labour: According to article number (34) of the constitution of year 2005; the control of foreign labor in the country is the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor, Public Service and Human Resource Development. In this aspect, the ministry applies the law which concerns the employment of non Sudanese for the 2001, which states that; it is not the right of any non Sudanese to start any job unless they have acquired a permit from the minister. There are certain terms for obtaining that permit. A non Sudanese is not granted the permission to work unless:
There is no Sudanese who can perform the job, and in that case the non-Sudanese is given priority over the non-residing Sudanese. Citizens from Arab and African countries are given priority over those of other nonSudanese.
If they are holders of legal residency according to the Law of Travel and Migration of the year 1993.
Regulations of the work permit:
The application for hiring non- Sudanese from outside of Sudan is presented by the employer in order to obtain a preliminary work permit.
Any non Sudanese must obtain a work permit for non Sudanese whether on his own or by the employer.
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When obtaining the permit and before starting the work the employer must sign a contract with the authorized non Sudanese according to the law of the year 1997, the contract must include the commitment of both parties to train a Sudanese, whose qualifications meet the qualifications of the non Sudanese, according to a set training program. The employer must cover all the travel expenses of the non Sudanese back to his country once the work is finished. A non Sudanese is not allowed to shift work with another employer while he is still in contract with the original employer or after it.
o If the non Sudanese has failed in performing the work that he was brought for. o If a decision of deporting the non Sudanese outside of Sudan for any reason has been made. o The employer must provide reports every six month about the training progress and pointing out any challenges faced. o The legal authorities have the right to access the workplaces of the non Sudanese to look at the records for inspection and follow up of training. The ministry of labor has done serious efforts in order to control the presence of foreign labor in Sudan by:
Stopping the hiring of foreign labor for marginal occupations.
Activating the inspection and follow up operations to limit the illegal presence of foreign labor in Sudan.
Examining the work of all employment agencies by a committee formed by all related authorities.
o If the employer or the non Sudanese employee provide inaccurate information.
Issuing announcements in the local news papers stating that foreigners who enter Sudan with a visit related visa after 31/ 1/ 2008 are not allowed enrolling in any work.
o If the non Sudanese has proven to fail in fulfilling his commitment of training Sudanese.
Establishing a data base in order to provide all information and statistics regarding foreign labor.
No foreigner is allowed to work without a contract.
The minister specifies the records and information that the employer must keep and that involves the work of non Sudanese, including their payments and salaries as well as the payments of the Sudanese under training. The work permit is valid for a year and it is renewable, unless the time required to do the work is less than that. The contract is renewed after making sure that both the employer and the non Sudanese employee are committed to the law. The permit can be revoked in the case of any violation to the law. The work permit is annulled in the following cases:
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The application of these terms is accompanied by some difficulties, some of which are due to the existence of some employment agencies that operate without a license from the ministry. They can be in the form of individuals. A committee was formed in 2006 to control the foreign labor in Sudan, based on a resolution by the President. The Ministry of Labor is key member in this committee. It also includes Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Refugees Committee, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and security and intelligence. This helped the Ministry of Labor a great deal in controlling the foreign labor, by coordinating and conducting regular meetings to review reports issued by each authority. The ministry of labor grants the license for opening employment agencies under certain conditions:
The applicant is Sudanese.
The applicant provides a CV.
The applicant passes the criminal and security test.
Having a permanent residence for the office equipped with all the needed tools.
Having a branch office outside of Sudan.
Paying all the license fees.
Available information about the foreign labor in Sudan: There is no detailed information concerning foreigners before 2007. A data base unit has been established and put to work in 2007 and now collection of information is done through a form and a file including information about every foreigner. Currently there is information about foreigners working in Sudan according to their occupations, specialties and countries of origin. One of the main constrains facing the unit is the problem of financing. The Ministry of Labor stated that there is no information recorded before 20004 and the reason is that the flow of foreigners was limited but the numbers started to increase as of 2005 as a result of the peace agreement and the increase in the petroleum revenues. This is in addition to direct investment, which enabled the country to implement developmental projects in the fields of oil industry, roads and bridges, dams, electricity, communications, the industrial sector and the service sector, and this is when the need for foreign expertise has arisen. The numbers of foreign labor dropped in 2007 after the application of the laws of the foreign labor, and also because a good number of Sudanese was trained on some vocational and technical occupations which narrowed the need for foreigners.
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Chapter Six
Undocumented Migration, Gender and Trafficking Issues There is growing evidence on the presence of some human trafficking rings operation in Sudan involving both Nationals and aliens. There is also evidence on the existence of acts of trafficking in persons among the population in the regions affected by the civil wars in Sudan. This chapter highlights some of the existing information on the issues of gender and human trafficking in the Sudan which has been overlooked in previous research on migration in Sudan. Severe forms of international trafficking in persons are documented for a number of countries in the annual reports on this alarming subject which are issued by the US State Department. In its 2008 Annual Report on Trafficking in Persons, a definition of trafficking in persons was given as: “ (a) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery." Sudan is classified as a Tier 3 country, a categorization which means that the government is not meeting the minimum standards that are needed for combating Trafficking in Persons. The Government-affiliated militias in southern Kordofan State of Sudan were once accused of initiating internal trafficking in persons by adopting a strategy against the rebel forces of the
Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during the civil war that involved the abduction of women and children. In southern Sudan, the Ugandan revel Lord's Resistance Army is known for practicing abduction of Ugandan children, and possibly southern Sudan children, for recruiting them as combatants. In western Sudan, the Justice and Equality Movement, the other revel group waging the civil war in Darfur also forcefully recruited children as soldiers. Young women from Ethiopia are smuggled to Sudan through arrangements made by their fellow nationals (who are often illegal aliens living in the Sudan or formerly processed refugees who eventually lost their refugee status and remained in the country). These smugglers cover the expenses of travel for the lured women against deferred repayments, and act as worker supply contactors for them to get employed (mainly as house maids). Because of their indebtedness and lack of legal residence permits, the women become captives in the hands of their contractors and exposed to all forms of exploitation. The 2008 Annual Report on Trafficking in Persons revealed that “Sudanese women and girls are trafficked to Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, for domestic servitude and to European countries, such as Poland, for sexual exploitation. Sudanese children are trafficked through Yemen to Saudi Arabia for forced begging. Sudanese gangs coerce other young Sudanese refugees into prostitution in nightclubs in Egypt.”21 Thus, trafficking in persons does exist in Sudan, but it is an issue which is difficult to be verified. The victims of human trafficking are the poor. 21
US Department of State (2008). Trafficking in Persons Report 2008. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/
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economic and social reasons). This has weakened the capacities of government institutions at federal, state and local levels which are dominated by less qualified and politicized staff. The stoppage of most of the international technical assistance that had in the past contributed immensely to specialized manpower training, both locally and abroad. The negative impacts of the government’s macroeconomic stabilization policies and the measures adopted for controlling the economy. The high rates of unemployment and poverty
Chapter Seven Sudan’s National Population Policy Programme of Action for the New Millennium: the Poverty Component Sudan’s proposed National Population Policy Programme of Action22 is geared toward achievement of seven of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. In this chapter the focus is on assessment of its poverty eradication component and its implications for issues relating to migration and migration policy analysis. Factors affecting migration have contributed to the perpetuation of poverty in the Sudan, which has in turn caused large scale population displacement and forced migration in recent years. Among others, these factors are: Climate change, and the expansive deterioration of the natural resource base, and the concomitant deterioration of livelihoods. The prolonged civil and tribal wars, and their devastating effects on the environment, the population, and the economy. The massive displacement of the rural population, the overcrowding of urban centres, and the associated human sufferings. The increased turn over and out migration of a huge number of the highly experienced, specialized and highly qualified persons for various reasons (political, 22
National Population Council (2007). National Population Policy Programme of Action. General Secretariat, National Population Council, Sudan.
Programmes directed toward poverty reduction can help reduce the existing problems of population dynamics in Sudan. The National Population Policy Programme of Action, which is still in its planning and organizing stage, needs to be assessed with respects to its potential contribution to eradication of poverty in the country. The United Nations Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG1) Calls for eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. The two targets of this goal and their measurable indicators are listed below:23 Target 1a: Reduce by Half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day o Proportion of population below $1 per day o Poverty gap ratio o Share of poorest quintile in national consumption
23
United Nations Development Program. Millennium Development Goals http://www.undp.org/mdg/goal1.shtml
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Target 1b: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people o Growth rate of GDP per person employed o Employment-to-population ratio o Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day o Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment Target 1c: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people o Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age o Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption. One observes from the outset that the Target 1a of MDG1 which calls for reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 2015 is compromised in Sudan’s National Population Policy Programme of Action by targeting reduction of the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 20% instead of 50%. Also Target 1b, which calls for achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people by 2015 is completely omitted. However, Target 1c which calls for reduction by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger is adopted. The Programme of Action’s poverty reduction component, according to its plan, is centered on the following goals:
Realization of a strategy for national poverty eradication and empowerment of the population. Realization of a strategy for food security and sustainable livelihoods. Increasing the productive capacities by 50 percent in areas affected by conflict and drought/crop failure. Development of livelihood coping strategies for 50 percent of the vulnerable communities that are affected by conflict and drought/crop failure. Strengthening the basic capacities for community driven land tenure management. Facilitating return and reintegration of 100 percent of the conflict affected persons returning to their homelands or places of choice. Support broad based consultation, coordination and collaboration among all stockholders and partners. From the above, one can quickly conclude that Sudan’s National Population Policy Programme of Action is devised as a means for structuring government participation in IDPs return, reintegration and recovery, and a way for getting funds for the Programme from United Nations Agencies and other international organizations concerned with the plight of IDPs in Sudan.
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References: Alier, Abel (1972) “The Southern Sudan Question”, in Dunstan M. Wai (ed.), The Southern Sudan: The Problem of National Integration. http://www.amazon.com/Southern-SudanNational-Integration-Studies/dp/0714629855 CNN (2006). CNN broadcast. 19 May 2006 “Your World Today” 14:00 hrs (GMT). De Geoffroy, Agnes (2007). From internal to international displacement in Sudan. Paper prepared for the Migration and Refugee Movements in the Middle East and North Africa. The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program, The American University in Cairo, Egypt, October 23-25, 2007. de Waal, A. (2005). Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan, Revised Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Doebbler, Curtis (2009). The Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Sudan. http://dcregistry.com/users/Sudan/IDPs.html Flint, J. and A. de Waal (2005). Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, London. Human Rights Watch (2004a). Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic Cleansing by Government and Militia Forces in Western Sudan, http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504.
Human Rights Watch (2004b). Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0404. IFAD (2007). Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty in Sudan. http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/Pn/fact sheets/sd.pdf
IFAD
(2009). Republic of The Sudan Country strategic opportunities programme, IFAD Document EB 2009/96/R.42/Rev.1, 29 April 2009.International Crisis Group (2004). Darfur Rising: Sudan’s New Crisis, ICG Africa Report No. 76, 25 March.
International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) (2009). 4.9 million IDPs across Sudan face ongoing turmol. http://www.internaldisplacement.org/8025708F004CE9 0B./(httpCountrySummaries)/3C6C147EB3DE6E4EC1 2575C1003AFE98?OpenDocument&count=10000 Johnson, D. H. (2004). The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars, James Currey, Oxford. Mulaj, Klejda (2008). ‘Forced Displacement in Darfur, Sudan: Dilemmas of classifying thr crime.’ International Migration Vol. 46 (2) 2008. National Population Council (2009). Migration and Population Movement in Sudan. General Secretariat, National Population Council, Sudan, January 2009 (in Arabic).
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National Population Council (2007). National Population Policy Programme of Action. General Secretariat, National Population Council, Sudan.
Prunier, G. (2005). Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, Hurst, London. Machar, Reik Southern Sudan: A History of Political Domination - A Case of Self-Determination. http://www.maxpages.com/machar United Nations (2005). Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations SecretaryGeneral Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1564 of 18 September 2004. Geneva, 25 January 2005, http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2005/icisud 25feb.pdf.
United Nations Development Program. Millennium Development Goals http://www.undp.org/mdg/goal1.shtml United Nations. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/principles.htm UNMIS/RRR (2009). Sudan Return and Reintegration Operations - 2008 Annual Report. United Nations Missin in Sudan/Retuen, Reintegration and Recovery. http://www.unsudanig.org/docs/RRR%20ANNUAL%20REPO RT%202008%20(RFS).pdf US Department of State (2008). Trafficking in Persons Report 2008. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/
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