Information on the treatment of Muslim women who refuse to wear traditional dress [SDN20451.E]

According to an article in the Sudan Democratic Gazette of December 1991, the government decreed that all Sudanese women must wear "long black dresses to their ankles and a black veil covering their head face" (8). Country Reports 1994 states the following:
On New Year's Eve of 1993, security forces raided many of Khartoum's private clubs and arrested several Muslim women for allegedly wearing clothes that did not conform with the Government's version of modest dress. The authorities punished several of these women by lashing (1995, 252).

For detailed information on the treatment of women in Sudan, please refer to the attached documents.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Sudan Democratic Gazette [London]. December 1991. No. 19. "Veiling Sudanese Women."

Attachments

Africa News [Durham, NC]. May 25-7 June 1992. Vol. 36, No. 2. "Women's Rights Eroding in Sudan," pp. 6-7.

Sudan Democratic Gazette [London]. February 1995. No. 57. "Violence Against Women," p. 12.

_____. December 1994. No. 55. "Repression and Increasing Concern About Female Circumcision in Sudan," p. 10.

_____. December 1991. No. 19. "Veiling Sudanese Women," p. 8.