UN Authority Figures

UN Committee on Information: Sudan

Ranked 174th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, Sudan is notorious for hounding its journalist and news media through arbitrary arrests, seizures of newspaper issues and forced closures.
Source: Reporters Without Borders, September 14, 2015

Mission of the Committee on Information: "...To promote the establishment of a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order intended to strengthen peace and international understanding and based on the free circulation and wider and better-balanced dissemination of information and to make recommendations thereon to the General Assembly." (Committee on Information website, "About the Committee")

Sudan's Term of office: 1979 - current

Sudan's Record on Freedom of Information:
"Freedom of Speech: Individuals who criticized the government publicly or privately were subject to reprisal, including arrest. The government attempted to impede such criticism and monitored political meetings and the press. The government arrested opposition political leaders, including the chair of the National Umma Party, Saddiq al-Mahdi, and the secretary general of the SCP, Ibrahim al-Sheikh, for alleging the RSF committed human rights abuses... Violence and Harassment: The government, including the NISS, continued to arrest, harass, intimidate, and torture journalists and vocal critics of the government. The NISS required journalists to provide personal information, such as details on their tribe, political affiliation, and family... Censorship or Content Restrictions: The government continued to practice direct prepublication and prebroadcast censorship of all forms of media throughout the year. Journalists also practiced self-censorship."
(U.S. State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2014, Sudan)