the Government of Sudan is encouraged to deepen the decentralization system by prevailing on the states to facilitate the establishment of local councils as mandated by the Constitution and to conduct elections to constitute them as soon as possible. 31. Sudanese women have been granted numerous political, economic, social and cultural rights since independence. The 2005 Interim National Constitution of 2005 grants women equal rights with men. Besides, the Bill of Rights, enshrined in the Constitution, guarantees equal right of women to the enjoyment of all civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights. The Constitution also incorporates the principle of equal pay for equal work, which is reflected in the Public Service Act, 2007. The Nationality Act of 1994 as amended in 2005 accorded women the right to pass on their nationality to their children. Furthermore, an amendment to the Criminal Code 1991 and the Armed Forces Act of 2007 guarantee women safety during armed conflicts. The Electoral Act, 2008 also stipulates that 25% of seats in Parliament should be reserved exclusively for women as a result of which the representation of women after the 2010 elections stood at 28.3%. Women’s rights have also been enhanced with the adoption of strategies for eliminating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and the establishment of the Violence against Women and Children Unit in the Ministry of Justice. There have, therefore, been significant improvements in the enjoyment of the rights of women in Sudan in the recent past. 32. Women’s participation in political affairs of the State has been enhanced, following the passage of the Elections Act in 2008, which stipulates that the quota of parliamentary seats reserved for women should be 25%. The CRM found that the actual number of women in the National Assembly is 30%, which places Sudan well ahead of many countries in Africa that have signed the CEDAW. The representation of women in the National Assembly exceeds the 25% constitutional benchmark because women are also free to contest the geographical constituency seats. In addition, the National Assembly has two Deputy Speakers, both of whom are women. 33. In order to ensure that the rise in the number of women parliamentarians translates into perceptible changes in gender equality in Sudan, the following are recommended: a. The Government could consider signing and ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to enhance the framework for national legislation and policies for the promotion and protection of human rights; b. Agencies implementing laws and policies for the promotion and protection of women’s rights should submit annual reports to the Legislature on their achievements in advancing the rights of women; c. Government ministries and agencies to adopt gender-mainstreaming policies and report periodically on the progress made. 34. Sudan has taken concrete measures to promote and protect the rights of children and the youth. In this regard, Article 14 of the INC requires the State to adopt policies and provide facilities for child and youth welfare, and protect children from moral and physical abuse and abandonment. Furthermore, Article 32(5) of the INC requires the State to protect the rights of the child as provided for in international and regional conventions ratified by Sudan. The country enacted the Child Act of 2010 to give effect to these provisions of the INC. For the most part, the Child Act establishes a suitable framework for the promotion and protection of the rights of children and the youth. Sudan is encouraged to reconsider the provisions of the 2010 Child Act that permits children under the age of 14 to work, so that it can align its law with the regulations of the International Labour Organization. 35. Sudan has a population of vulnerable groups, including old people, disabled persons, victims of natural disasters and wars, internally displaced persons and refugees. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were 2.5 million IDPs in Darfur at the end of 2014, while increasing numbers of people were displaced in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. The exact numbers are yet to be verified. Further displacements necessitating the influx of refugees into IDP camps in Sudan have occurred since December 2013 because of the violent conflict in South Sudan. OCHA also reported that there was an inflow of refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Central African Republic and Chad. As of June 2016, OCHA claimed the number of displaced persons was 3,374,000. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), on the other hand, estimated the number of IDPs as over 4 million. 07