Arwa Elrabiea

Arwa

Sudan, CAHR, Autumn 2017

My name is Arwa Elrabiea and I am a Sudanese human rights activist. My academic background is in law and music. I earned my law degree from the University of Cairo, Khartoum Branch, in 1991. I had my B.A. in Music in 1996 from the Faculty of Music and Drama, in the "Sudan University". I came back to the same faculty to do my M.A. in Sudanese Women Songs, which I completed in 2004.

I had a brief career practicing law and took a couple of teaching positions before I joined Al Khatim Adlan Center for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE) in 2008. KACE was a nongovernmental organization working towards spreading enlightenment. We defined enlightenment as promoting democracy, liberty, equality, freedom of thought and freedom of scientific research. We focused on raising awareness in different communities in order to change perceptions about one's own and others' identity and basic human worth.

I started my work with KACE as a project coordinator, continuing as a project manager in 2009, before becoming the managing director in 2010. My responsibilities as a managing director included managing staff in general and overseeing the implementation of programmes. Since 2009, I directly managed a number of projects, including the following: Breaking the Silence on Darfur; Combating Violence against Women; the Human Rights Defenders Project; and the Cultural Project.

I take a personal pride in the latter project as it significantly contributed to making KACE the most popular destination in Khartoum for young people, who flocked to it to spend their evenings. The cultural project had four components, a cinema club, a book club, theatre and music. We had a weekly film screening, a weekly literary event or a public talk, a monthly theatre performance, and a monthly musical concert. We supported young theatre groups, young literary talents, and a choir of 22 youths, 50% of whom are women. A number of the top musicians in the country performed in our "peace messages through music" programme. The fact that I am considered part of the musical community in Sudan, and that the vast majority of the top singers in the country are my personal friends, gave me leverage that I did not hesitate to use. The result was that the most popular singers in Sudan performed at KACE; they sang songs that celebrate diversity, multi-culturalism, equality, peaceful coexistence and mutual respect among the different societal entities that collectively make up the multi-faceted identity of Sudan.

KACE's huge success turned into a curse; it was considered threatening to the message promoted by the authoritarian "Islamic" regime of Sudan. Therefore, we became a prime target for the notorious National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), the iron fist of the regime. NISS started a series of intimidation and harassment campaigns that culminated in the closing down of KACE on the 31st of December 2012, and the confiscation of all its assets.

Refusing to accept defeat, my colleagues and I decided in 2013 to establish a training centre that we called TRACKs for Training and Human Development. We provided training on various topics including human rights and information technology. By the beginning of 2015, we were the number one training centre in the country. NISS came after us again, and raided our centre twice, in March 2015 and again in February 2016. They interrogated us after each raid, and tried to take us to court on charges of espionage, spying, undermining the constitution, and waging war against the state. Although their court case collapsed in 2015, it nevertheless started again in 2016. We were detained for various periods, and three of our colleagues remained in detention for more than ten months.

This is just a glimpse of the harsh environment in which I have been working. I have been arrested and harassed; I have been charged with major crimes (including treason and directing a terrorist organisation); and I have suffered a long legal trial because of my work. Despite the risks, I enjoy my human rights work, which I have been doing for more than a decade, and I find it rewarding. I deeply believe that music, and culture more generally, can make an enormous contribution to raising awareness of human rights and to bringing disparate people together. I have been able to help many victims, and to turn some of them into activists. I have been able to help many young talents and open doors of opportunity and to provide hope for them, in a country of very few opportunities and of very little hope.