Amnesty urges human rights component in peace process

The human rights group Amnesty International has called for a human rights component in the ongoing Sudanese peace process if lasting and sustainable peace is to be achieved throughout the country. "Unless human rights for all become a full component of a forthcoming agreement crucial for the future of Sudan, peace will not be sustainable," the organisation said in a new report released on Wednesday. The report entitled "Sudan: Empty Promises? Human Rights Violations in Government Controlled Areas", said people in government-controlled areas "continued to suffer violations of their human rights, rooted in the same issues of discrimination and injustice that fuelled the war in the south". "The government of Sudan has made many gestures hinting at greater openness and promotion of human rights in areas it controls. But too often positive rhetoric has not been converted into concrete action in favour of human rights," Amnesty said. The authorities in Khartoum have denied claims of gross human rights violations, citing as proof the recent removal of Sudan from a list of countries under scrutiny. Sudan's human rights status was raised at the UN annual Human Rights Convention in Geneva in April this year. The vote meant there would no longer be a special UN rapporteur to monitor and report on human rights violations in the country. [For full Amnesty International report click here: http://web.amnesty.org/]