The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with the Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate (SJS), has submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council documenting the devastating collapse of press freedom in Sudan, ahead of the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The UPR, a UN mechanism that reviews each member state’s human rights record every 4½ years, assesses progress made since the previous review cycle and issues recommendations on how governments can better meet their human rights obligations.
The joint report finds that Sudan has failed to implement the vast majority of recommendations related to freedom of expression and the protection of journalists accepted during its previous UPR. It documents widespread violations committed since the outbreak of war in April 2023, including the killings of journalists, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence against female journalists, information blackouts, and the systematic use of legal measures to criminalize reporting in Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)-controlled areas, alongside widespread abuses by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The submission also highlights the near-total impunity for crimes against journalists and calls on all parties to protect members of the press, investigate attacks, release arbitrarily detained journalists, end the misuse of laws against the press, and guarantee safe and independent reporting throughout the conflict.
CPJ and SJS’s UPR submission on Sudan is available in English here.