A statement issued by Hassan Shire, the executive director of DefendDefenders and World Movement Steering Committee member, analyzes a recent agreement formed in Sudan on the make-up of the incoming transitional government. In the statement, Shire calls on the leaders of the transitional government to recognize the pivotal role women played in recent protests and to allot 50% of seats of the transitional government for women. “They led the movement and must continue to lead until a democratically elected civilian government takes power,” he notes.

Additionally, Shire highlights a number of actions the international community must take to ensure that human rights are central to the transition process: implement an inquiry into human rights abuses committed by the military during protests beginning in December 2018; hold the transitional government accountable, if it fails to deliver on promised reforms; and expand targeted sanctions towards individuals responsible for human rights abuses committed in Sudan. Read the full statement.