Sudanese government scraps bill violating women’s rights

The transitional Sudanese government endorsed on November 25 a draft bill which lets go the controversial ‘public order law’, in response to a key demand by the human and feminist rights organizations that deplore said discriminatory law against women. The official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, cited the information minister, Faisal Saleh, as saying that the cabinet ratified in an extraordinary session a number of draft laws, including ‘the annulment of the laws of the public order and morality in the provinces’. He revealed that these laws will be referred to the joint meeting of the cabinet and transitional council to be approved and become effective. Saleh explained that, in the absence of a transitional parliament, the meeting of the two councils, in accordance with the constitutional declaration, serves as the legislature which enacts bills, expecting the meeting to take place in the next couple of days. Recalling, that the ‘public order law’, in force since 1996, restricts public and individual freedoms and stipulates harsh penalties, including lashing and imprisonment up to five years, in addition to sizable fines, against women convicted of indecent clothing or drinking alcohol. (An Nahar, November 26, 2019)