Juba, South Sudan,
March 1, 2022 — South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network convened a hybrid side event that discussed the mandate of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan as part of a wider strategy to lobby for its renewal.
The dialogue explored synergies and taking into account that the government of South Sudanese should continue to cooperate with the international partners and mechanisms, including the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
The meeting further discussed the human rights situation in the country and ways of ensuring continued international scrutiny of, and support to the government of South Sudan.
The Commission’s mandate is to determine and report the facts and circumstances, collect and preserve evidence, and to clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights related crimes under national and international law including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability.
James Bidal, the head of SSHRDN Secretariat, said this is not the time to change the Councils approach or to relax its scrutiny.
“The mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan remains critical and should continue until such a point as demonstrable progress has been made against human rights bench marks and accountability based on an assessment of risk factors of further violations.” Bidal said.
“The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan should continue to work until the Hybrid Court for South Sudan and other Transitional Justice Institution envisioned in Chapter 5 of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan are operational and other benchmarks are fulfilled” He continued,
He further emphasized that technical assistance and capacity building services should be provided to South Sudan authorities and national institutions such as the South Sudan Human Rights Commission.
Bidal believes that the Human Rights Council has a role to play and hence the mandate of the commission is indispensable.
The Acting Chair of South Sudan Human Rights Commission Hon. Nyuon Justine said the human rights situation will shift if the Agreement on the resolution of the conflict in the republic of South Sudan is implemented.
He further said the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan is paramount as it keeps the council engaged and having debates on South Sudan.
South Sudan is currently put under the watch of the council under agenda item 4 and will only move when it improves on the human rights situation by implementing the Universal Periodic Review recommendations.
Under the UPR System, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva reviews the human rights records of each of the 193 UN members states every five years.
South Sudan’s human rights record was examined on 31st January 2022, by the UN human rights Council’s UPR Working Group for the second time since independence and 264 recommendations were given to the Government of the republic of South Sudan.
SSHRDN is a coalition of civil society organizations and individuals working to protect promotion of human rights in South Sudan. It was established as an independent entity partnering with both the international and regional human rights power houses.
