[JURIST] The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and international sanctions Idriss Jazairy [official profile] on Thursday praised [press release] US President Barack Obama’s recent decision to lift all US sanctions on Sudan. He noted that he decision acknowledges the fact that the Sudanese government has adopted positive actions in the last six months. “By lifting sanctions on Sudan, after adopting similar decisions on Cuba and Iran, President Obama will be remembered as a leader who listened to the international community and stakeholders, in particular the poor and the wretched who were the unintended main victims of such measures,” Jazairy said. This decision is in line with Jazairy’s 2016 report [material] to the Human Rights Council regarding the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights. He argues that sanctions serve to restrict trade and investment and harm the citizens’ enjoyment of their rights.

The human rights situation throughout Sudan has drawn global condemnation. In September an Amnesty International (AI) investigative report claimed the Sudanese government used chemical weapons [JURIST report] on civilians in a region of Darfur between January and September 9. In March Human Rights Watch reported that female rights activists [JURIST report] in Sudan are facing harassment, violence and other rights abuses. Earlier that month South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s ruling that the state broke the law by not detaining [JURIST report] Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir despite an International Criminal Court order to do so. In February a UN human rights expert called for an end [JURIST report] to conflict in Darfur between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid, which may have led to human rights abuses and violations of international law.