WRITTEN QUESTION P-3402/03 by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission. Cross amputation of sixteen-year-old in Sudan.
Date: 2003-11-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Islamic law, Sudan, child protection, cruel and degrading treatment, right to physical integrity

C 88 E/144

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

The Commission along with the Member States carries out a very active dialogue on a wide range of
matters including progress on democracy, human rights and the use of oil revenues for the good of the
people as a whole. The Commission is one of the largest donors assisting Azerbaijan’s refugees and
Internally Displaced People through its programme for the rehabilitation of war damaged areas.

The Government of Azerbaijan has started to use its Oil Fund for the benefit of refugees who have been
settled in different regions of Azerbaijan.

(2004/C 88 E/0152)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3402/03

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(11 November 2003)

Subject:

‘Cross amputation’ of sixteen-year-old in Sudan

A recent Amnesty International bulletin reports that a court in Sudan has imposed a sentence of ‘cross
amputation’ (i.e. amputation of the right hand and the left foot) on a sixteen-year-old suspected of armed
assault. If this judgment is upheld, it will be carried out forthwith.

The punishment of amputation is in essence torture and a brutal violation of human rights, while Sudan
has ratified numerous conventions protecting human rights and condemning torture. Such sentences are
not uncommon in a country in which the judicial system and the penal code have also incorporated
provisions of Islamic law (Sharia).

What steps will the Commission take to exert pressure on the Sudanese Government to suspend the
judgment concerned and abolish torture so that Sudan complies with the conventions on the protection of
human rights to which that country is a signatory?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(10 December 2003)

The application of corporal punishment has been subject to repeated interventions with the Government
of Sudan, in the framework of the EU-Sudan political dialogue, which includes human rights as one of the
main components. The reaction of the Government in Khartoum has usually been elusive, pointing out
that Sharia is and will be the legal basis in Sudan. This has also been confirmed, at least for the northern
and central part of the country, in the Machakos Protocol of July 2002, an important milestone in the
peace process, which the Union generally supports.

The Commission will ask its Delegation in Khartoum to inquire about the circumstances and details of the
case referred to by Amnesty International, and bring the case to the attention of the Union Troika with a
view to raising it during the forthcoming high-level mission to Khartoum in December 2003.

(2004/C 88 E/0153)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3435/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Act of provocation by Bulgaria towards a Member State

(20 November 2003)

Articles in the Greek press report that a postage stamp is in circulation in Bulgaria which shows part of
Mount Athos (specifically the Zografos Monastery) as a part of Bulgarian territory. Despite protests from
the Greek authorities, the Bulgarians refuse to withdraw the stamp on the grounds that it was issued in
June 2001, under the Kostov government, and that to halt its circulation could provoke reactions from the
opposition.