SPLM Kidnapped 2000 Children from South Kordofan: UN

Khartoum – The National Human Rights Group said its participation in human rights session forced the United Nations (UN) to admit for the first time the kidnapping by the SPLM/A of 2000 children from South Kordofan.

Executive Director of the National Human Rights Group, Al-Nur Mohamed Ibrahim, revealed the existence of six camps at the border for child training, stressing the importance of making this fact known to the Arab and African worlds.

The Group called on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to officially condemn the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for its involvement in human rights violations especially that of women and children at conflict zones in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Addressing a press conference at SUNA premises Wednesday on participation of the Group in Session (19) of the Human Rights Council in Geneva convened during the period from 7 to 15 March, Ibrahim said the Group raised many issues especially the kidnapping of women and children in South Kordofan and showed the Session a film about SPLM practices against children and women in the region.

He said the Group organized a symposium on human rights which attracted huge attendance including from various international media organs.

Considerable discussion at the Human Rights Council’s Session (19) convened in Geneva was devoted to the issues of women and children, Halima Hasab Al-Naeem, human rights activist and member of the Group which attended the meeting in Geneva, said, and called on the international community to focus more attention on violations of rights of children and women in conflict regions in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Unlike the situation in Darfur, the international community is silent towards ongoing violations of human rights in the two regions, she said, adding that the raising by the group of the issue of human rights violations forced the international community for the first time to admit kidnapping, torture and forced recruitment of children in Sudan, citing UNICEF admission.

The activist said the international community is pursuing a double standard policy towards Sudanese issues, adding the international community continues to express concern over the human rights situation in Darfur but turns a blind eye to the same violations in South Kordofan and Blue Nile States.

She said the Group briefed large number of organizations participating in the meeting on its efforts to reintegrate children and women in public life.