Sudan - August 2022

First independent journalists’ union in three decades formed in Sudan

Sudanese journalists formed the country’s first independent journalists’ union since 1989, when former President, Omar al-Bashir, dissolved all independent unions. Under Bashir’s rule and in the period since the October 2021 military coup, journalists have been subject to significant state repression and Sudan was ranked 151 out of 180 countries in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index – an annual ranking compiled and published by the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders. Members of the new union are reported to have expressed the hope that it will enhance protections for freedom of expression and help build a stronger independent press. The union’s formation was welcomed by the Bahri Resistance Committees, one of the groups organizing the protests against military rule, who regard it as helping to lay the foundation for democracy. Reporters Without Borders consider it to be a “positive step”.

Sources: Voice of America, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, AI Monitor, Reporters Without Borders