In the coming years, Sudan will face a transition to peace and democracy. This will be a time of immense opportunity for the country. How will it respond to the enormous challenges of building a society based on equality, democracy and human rights? This book represents the efforts of Sudanese civil society organizations to come to terms with these challenges. Each chapter deals with a basic issue for the future of Sudan. Some of the basic questions addressed include:

·        How is Sudan to develop a constitution that guarantees the rights of its citizens and helps overcome the problems of division, inequality, and militarism in the country?

·        How are free expression and religious equality to be guaranteed in a country scarred by religious extremism and bigotry?

·        Women in Sudan have long suffered oppression and discrimination. What is the agenda for women’s emancipation?

·        How is self-determination to be implemented so that the Southern Sudanese can achieve their rights and what constitutional framework is appropriate for Southern Sudan?

·        How are the rights of ethnic minorities in Northern Sudan to be guaranteed? What race relations laws are needed?

·        What form of accountability for past human rights abuses should there be? Should there be prosecution and punishment, a truth commission, or should bygones be bygones?

·        What judicial reforms will be necessary so that the law in Sudan can serve the people and no longer be an instrument of division and repression?

ABOUT THE EDITORS

A. H. Alex Salam and Alex de Waal are members of The Committee of the Civil Project in Sudan, which is a consortium of four organizations including Sudan Human Rights Organization, South Sudan Law Society, Nuba Mountains Solidarity Abroad, and Justice Africa.

CATEGORY

Law, Development Studies, Politics/AFRICA