Advancing the Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Communities in Sudan

Abstract

This report aims to raise decision makers’ awareness about the protection deficit concerning the human rights of over 3.7 million people currently living in displacement in Sudan and improve their understanding of the need for reform to protect IDPs’ right to vote and participate in governmental and public affairs. The report highlights obstacles that impede IDPs’ right to vote, including ongoing conflict, restrictive residency or documentary requirements, discriminatory laws and practices, inability to access polling registration, lack of knowledge about politics and elections processes and inadequacy of election dispute resolution mechanisms. It also examines Sudan’s legislation, political agreements, policies, regulations and procedures It also emphasizes aspects of the electoral framework to guarantee inclusiveness, transparency and integrity of electoral processes. Additionally, it puts a set of recommendations and options for reforms. Lastly, security, budgetary and operational constraints made obtaining data representative of the IDP communities a challenge during the production of this report. Therefore, the author relied heavily on IDP data collected and compiled by various intergovernmental, governmental and nongovernmental organizations.