ACHPR
African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights
Human Ri(Jhts our
Collective Responsibility
Article 5, both in respect of the right of the person forcibly disappeared and that of
their family members. In the Mouvement Burkinabe case.'? the Commission not only
noted that the enforced disappearances of political opponents constituted a
violation of Article 5, but also held that:
Article 5 of the Charter guarantees respect for the dignity inherent in the human person
and the recognition of his legal status. This text further prohibits all forms of
exploitation and degradation of man, particularly slaoerq, slave trade, torture cruel,
inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment. The guarantee of the physical
integrity and securitv of the person is also enshrined hi 'Article 6 of the African Charter,
as well as in the Declaration on the Protection of all Persons against Forced
Disappearances, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in Resolution
47/133 of 18th December 1992, which stipulates in article 1(2) that "any act leading to
forced disappearance excludes the victimfrqm the prot~~tion of the law and causes grave
suffering to the victim and his family. It constitutes a violation of the rules of
international law, especially those that guarantee to all the right to the recognition of
their legal status, the right to freedom and security of their person and the right not be
subjected to torture or any other inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment. It
also violates the right to life or seriously imperils it.
124. The Complainants have submitted that during the first months of the conflict
in South Kordofan, between June 2011 and November 2012, the SAF and other
security services of the Respondent State carried out arbitrary arrests, detention,
torture and enforced disappearances and in the process subjected members of the
Nuba ethnic group in South Kordofan and Blue Nile to beatings and kicking, rape
and other forms of sexual violence, destruction of properties, forced evictions and
displacement in violation of Article 5 of the African Charter.
125. In particular, the Complainants listed specific violations of Article 5 to include:
the detention in June 2011 of four UN Peacekeepers and subjecting them to a mock
firing squad; the detention in June 2011of an Al Jazeera TV team, who were beaten
with Rifle butts and threatened to be killed at the Security Authority Headquarters
and a police station; the arbitrary arrests in June 2011 of over a hundred civilians
in and around Kadugli, some of whom were reportedly tortured before being
transferred to Khartoum; the arrest and detention on 20 June 2011 of a young
Nubian woman, who was interrogated about her work with an international NGO
while being beaten with fists, sticks, rubber hoses, and electric wires; the arrest,
detention and torture in December 2011 by the NISS of three young men (Musa
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