Transnational Issues Sudan
Disputes - international:
the effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia
fighting since the mid-twentieth century have penetrated all of the
neighboring states; as of 2006, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central
African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda
provided shelter for over half a million Sudanese refugees, which
includes 240,000 Darfur residents driven from their homes by
Janjawid armed militia and the Sudanese military forces; Sudan, in
turn, hosted 20,000 Chadians, 122,000 Eritreans, 14,810 Ethiopians,
7,900 Ugandans and 5,000 Congolese as refugees; in February 2006,
Sudan and DROC signed an agreement to repatriate 13,300 Sudanese and
6,800 Congolese; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel
groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia
proceed slowly due to civil and ethnic fighting in eastern Sudan;
the boundary that separates Kenya and Sudan's sovereignty is unclear
in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial
times; while Sudan claims to administer the Hala'ib Triangle north
of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel, both states
withdrew their military presence in the 1990s and Egypt has invested
in and effectively administers the area; periodic violent skirmishes
with Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among
related pastoral populations from the Central African Republic along
the border
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 116,746 (Eritrea), 20,000 (Chad),
14,633 (Ethiopia), 7,901 (Uganda)
IDPs: 5,300,000 - 6,200,000 (internal conflict since 1980s; ongoing
genocide in Darfur region, IDP registration for return to South
Sudan started in 2005) (2006)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Sudan is a source country for men, women, and
children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual
exploitation; Sudan may also be a transit and destination country
for Ethiopian women trafficked for domestic servitude; boys are
trafficked to the Middle East, particularly Qatar and the United
Arab Emirates, for use as camel jockeys; small numbers of girls are
reportedly trafficked within Sudan for domestic servitude, as well
as for commercial sexual exploitation in small brothels in
internally displaced persons (IDP) camps; the terrorist rebel
organization "Lord's Resistance Army" (LRA) continues to abduct and
forcibly conscript small numbers of children in Southern Sudan for
use as cooks, porters, and combatants in its ongoing war against
Uganda; some of these children are then trafficked across borders
into Uganda or possibly the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
children are utilized by rebel groups and the Sudanese Armed Forces
and associated militias in the ongoing conflict in Darfur; during
the decades of civil war, thousands of Dinka women and children were
enslaved by members of Baggara tribes and subjected to various forms
of forced labor without remuneration, as well as physical and sexual
abuse; with the cessation of the North-South conflict and the
ongoing peace process, there were no known new abductions of Dinka
by Baggara tribes during 2005; however, inter-tribal abductions of a
different nature continue in Southern Sudan and warrant further
investigation
tier rating: Tier 3 - Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making
significant efforts to do so
This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007
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@Suriname
Introduction Suriname
Background:
First explored by the Spaniards in the 16th century and then
settled by the English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a
Dutch colony in 1667. With the abolition of slavery in 1863, workers
were brought in from India and Java. Independence from the
Netherlands was granted in 1975. Five years later the civilian
government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared a
socialist republic. It continued to exert control through a
succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987, when
international pressure finally forced a democratic election. In
1990, the military overthrew the civilian leadership, but a
democratically elected government - a four-party New Front coalition
- returned to power in 1991 and has ruled since, expanding to eight
parties in 2005.
Geography Suriname