WRITTEN QUESTION E-3936/98

by Carlos Robles Piquer (PPE) to the Council

(4 January 1999)

Subject: Slavery in Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia

Monsignor Gabriel Zubeir, Catholic Archbishop of Khartoum, recently visited Madrid to receive a prize from the magazine "Mundo Negro", published by the Combonian Fathers.

In the newspaper ABC (the edition of 5 December 1998) Santiago Martín reports that the Archbishop stated that the Islamic government's oppressive attitude towards those holding other religious beliefs is the cause of a civil war, which started in 1985, between tens of millions of Muslims and about twenty million Animists and Christians, mainly living in the south of the country.

Inter alia the Archbishop said that soldiers are becoming rich by means of plunder and murder and that children are being sold in the slave markets of Libya and Saudi Arabia.

He also claims that the West knows about this, but does nothing, and that the civil war is costing a million dollars a day.

Does the Council have any data at its disposal which might confirm the truth of these statements, in particular regarding the existence of slave markets and the claim that Sudanese children of both sexes are offered for sale there?

Reply

(29 March 1999)

The Council shares the Honourable Member's concern over the abduction of children in Sudan to be used as slaves. An equally serious problem is the use by both the Government and the rebels of abducted children as child soldiers. The Council's position on the civil war in Sudan is well known and has been expressed in a number of declarations on the civil war, human rights violations and the humanitarian situation, most recently on 14 and 22 January 1999.

Human Rights Watch World Report 1999 mentions women and children abducted to be used as slave labour by Government armed arab militias. Amnesty International also reports on abductions of children, quoting allegations by the Deputy Chairman of the Sudanese National Assembly's Human Rights Commission. Christian Solidarity International announced on 28 January 1999 that it had bought the freedom of 1050 slaves in Sudan this month, mainly children, for 50 USD per person. A Ugandan rebel movement, the so called Lord's Resistance Movement operating out of Sudan, armed and supplied by the Sudanese authorities, is also reported to abduct children during its raids into Uganda and to use them as slave labour, child soldiers and for sexual exploitation. The Council has no information on Sudanese children being sold as slaves on slave markets in Libya or Saudi Arabia.

The Council has noted that on 17 December 1998, the European Parliament adopted resolutions on Sudan (B4-1081) and on child soldiers (B4-1078). The Council fully agrees with both resolutions, but notes that the issue of slavery was not raised.

The Council has limited means to influence the Government of Sudan. Development assistance was suspended in 1990 although humanitarian aid is still provided, primarily in the South through non-governmental organisations. While attempts at pursuing a critical dialogue with the Government of Sudan have thus far proved unsuccessful, the Council is currently examining how it might renew a dialogue with it.

The international combat against child trafficking is led by the United Nations which has appointed a special rapporteur on the sale of children. The European Union will continue to work for an end to the practice of child trafficking with the United Nations, including the special rapporteur on the sale of children, as well as governments and non-governmental organisations concerned with the issue.