Constitution-Making and Human Rights in the Sudans

2017 | History & Politics

Sudan and South Sudan have suffered from repeated cycles of conflict and authoritarianism resulting in serious human rights and humanitarian law violations. Several efforts, such as the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and transitional justice initiatives have recognised that the failure to develop a stable political and legal order is at the heart of Sudan's governance problems. Following South Sudan's independence in 2011, parallel constitutional review processes are under way that have prompted intense debates about core issues of Sudan's identity, governance and rule of law, human rights protection and the relationship between religion and the state. The book provides an in-depth study of Sudan's constitutional history and current debates with a view to identifying critical factors that would enable Sudan and South Sudan to overcome the apparent failure to agree on and implement a stable order conducive to sustainable peace and human rights protection.

It examines relevant processes against the broader (constitutional) history of Sudan and identifies building blocks of successful constitutional reforms through a detailed analysis of Sudanese law and politics and a regional approach that focuses on how other countries, such as Tunisia and Egypt following the Arab uprisings and Kenya have dealt with critical structural and conceptual issues. The main themes of the book are constitutionalism and constitutional rights protection in their political, legal and institutional context in Sudan and South Sudan, and the repercussions of the relationship between state and religion for the rights to freedom of religion, minority rights and women's rights.

Lutz Oette (Author)

Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker (Author)