Women, Children and Prisons Programme

The Women, Children and Prisons programme was launched in December 2002, the aim of the programme are as follows:

• Increase awareness of women's and girls rights in Sudan
• Improve situation of prisoners and increase their awareness of their rights
• Lead campaign on FGM
• Campaign for the rights of women and girls
• Campaign for the protection and the rights of the child
• Training on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

The programme has been imperative to help the most disadvantaged groups in Sudan and the most vulnerable to human rights violation such harmful traditional practices and displacement due to insecurities in the south and west of Sudan.

The number of activities carried out and the level of impact achieved has been remarkable. These included the following:

• A comprehensive report on prison conditions in Sudan
• Training of prisoners on their rights and basic human rights
• Training prison officers on laws regarding the treatment of prisoners and the basics of human rights
• Training of volunteer paralegals on human rights to offer their service to IDP's in camps
• Taking a leading role in the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) network which was set up to eradicate the practice and is supported by more than 50 NGOs working in Sudan
• Representing SOAT in meetings pertaining to women’s human rights.

SOAT conducted several workshops in Kosti, Omdurman, and Al Fashir women Prisons for training of prison officers and inmates on issues such as rights, the role of a paralegals and methods of improving conditions in the prison. We are positive that this will continue to help support the most disadvantaged women in Sudanese society through encouraging a greater awareness of their rights as well as showing them to improve their current situation.

Our Women’s Officer has engaged in a variety of different initiatives, such as Human Rights awareness workshops in Omdurman women’s prison and the training of paralegal network of prisoners in order that they can provide free advice to other female prisoners. This new service has proved to be a preventive measure against torture because it raises the awareness of both the victims and the law enforcement personnel.

Another major area of activity for the programme has been its pioneering role in the area of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The Documentation officer is one of the founders of the FGM network, and a member of the executive committee, responsible for the media office. SOAT organised the media training workshop for the network, which proved to be successful. SOAT is also a member of the FGM National Committee, formed by the National Council for Children Welfare, with member including local, national international NGOs and UN agencies.