University of Khartoum

Faculty of Law

Human Rights

Dr. Alradi
Abdallah

Amaal Yasir Omar

 What is the effect of the undergoing structural adjustment process in Sudan on the enjoyment of
social economic and cultural rights and propose any recommendations/suggestions that the
government should take into consideration during this process to guarantee the enjoyment of such
rights?

Structural adjustments directly affect the enjoyment of social, economic, and cultural rights, and
these rights are the freedoms, privileges, and entitlements that individuals and societies need to
lead a dignified life. These human rights include the right to food, housing, health, education,
cultural identity, and more.
On the economic side, the transitional government tends to implement strict economic policies to
reduce the economic crisis and raise living standards. For example, the government has
implemented a policy of lifting subsidies, especially in fuel, which raises the price and
exacerbates the crises.
What does subsidy lift mean?
Economic support is part of a particular substance; for sale to citizens at a reduced price. The
meaning of “lifting the subsidy” means canceling the government’s participation in purchasing
and leaving it to be sold at its real price without reducing it. An example is raising subsidies for
bread, and raising subsidies for gasoline.
Raising the support that is being talked about will produce a new reality from two scenes. The
first represents the new reality that cannot be denied or evaded, that raising the prices of strategic
goods and services will turn the life of the citizen into a more narrow space above the daily
suffering. As for the second scene, we hear lawsuits Whoever promotes it (ignorantly or
fraudulently) that lifting the subsidy will have a positive effect on the budget and that this will be
the savior of the economy and the main way out of the crisis, and this is a constructive talk.
Although it is true that reform measures have produced positive results in some countries, this
does not necessarily mean that they have similar effects in all countries. The success of reforms
depends on factors such as the design of the reforms, the situation of the country concerned, and
external and institutional factors.
Since the state lifted its hand from prices and made them subject to supply and demand,
merchants became the controllers of everything, setting prices according to their profits agenda
without paying attention to the nature of the Kuwaiti family's income, and accordingly, we see
that the commodity has a price on one day and another price on the next day, and thus the high
price grilled uncharted pockets The able-bodied and middle-income families, and because the
state is still absent in this regard, it is expected that the market regulators will resort to
compensating for their losses resulting from the lifting of subsidies on them, with a new wave of
high prices through their control of other economic capabilities.
Journalist and political analyst Khaled El-Tijani compares all the attempts made by the
transitional government to revive the economy as temporary palliatives that deal with symptoms
without disease, and will not lead to a positive result.
Concerning raising or rationalizing subsidies, Youssef Abdel Rahman says that the support
provided is not direct support, but is the result of the exchange rate difference between the
official dollar rate and the parallel market price, and that this difference is what created a cash
leak.
Abdul Rahman added that the causes of inflation in the country are many, on top of which is the
sharp decline in the real production sectors, such as the agricultural sector, with its two parts,
animal and vegetable, and the industrial sector, attributing the decline to the absence of visions,
goal and plan, and what makes matters worse is the sharp expansion of borrowing from the
banking system through The Ministry of Finance, which led to an excessive increase in the
monetary mass accompanied by a significant decline in production, led to steady inflation and a
decline in the national currency that will continue until the end of the year.
Among the negative effects due to the lifting of fuel subsidies are the high prices of transport
fare, whether for individuals or goods, the high prices of goods affected by the increase in
transport fare and this varies according to distances, and the inability of low-income people who
depend on their transportation in their own cars to bear the high costs of purchasing fuel.
Among the negative effects due to the lifting of subsidies are the health sector problems. We are
not talking about government hospitals and schools funded by the public treasury, which lack
many requirements and ingredients, but about other things such as medicines and the quality of
necessary health services that are not available in government hospitals, such as conducting some
analyzes and examinations and types of From the medical diagnosis, the truth is that the costs of
treatment and education in Sudan are very high in a country that suffers from the spread of some
diseases such as diabetes, pressure and heart disease due to poor eating habits.
Suggestions:
The government should implement policies to promote and guarantee this type of rights.
 Granting electronic financial cards to citizens that contain a financial compensation for the
monthly or annual fuel subsidy allowances for each Sudanese citizen, and providing all gas
stations with electronic financial card services designated for the purpose of purchasing fuel.
 Approval of a unified pricing by the Ministry of Economy for various goods and
merchandise, if transportation costs are taken into account, affected by the increase in the
price of fuels used in transportation.
 Activating public transportation through the gradual provision of public buses inside and
outside cities.
 Gradually reorganizing the private transport sector, whether for passengers or goods,
according to specific specifications.
 The government must enact laws that are appropriate for the transitional period of social
control, must not contradict the constitutional charter, and must not be a place for political
debate between the different parties.
 The government must control the market, enable quality policies, and implement policies that
protect the poor, implement direct support programs for families, and enhance programs for
productive families.

 We must do our best to spread the Sudanese culture and raise awareness of the Sudanese
culture to make it known to all.

 Another important piece of information necessary to define the concept of subsidy is that in
order for there to be subsidy, other sources of income must be found that can cover the costs
of this subsidy, such as obligating companies to impose taxes on them. This means, from the
outset, that the existing support financed by the public treasury is based mainly on what is
provided by tax revenues, in addition to an infinite amount of service fees at various levels of
government.