press release
Nairobi — South Sudan's lawmakers should overhaul draft legislation that would establish and regulate the powers of the National Security Service (NSS) to ensure that it conforms with international human rights standards. The draft law is pending before parliament and expected to be put to a vote on October 7, 2014.
"As is, the National Security Service bill would sanction the national security service's abusive and unlawful detentions and interrogations," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "South Sudan should insist on a higher standard instead of echoing Sudan's draconian national security law."
The bill should be revised to bring it in line with international human rights standards, and South Sudan's Bill of Rights, Human Rights Watch said.
The security service has operated without a legal basis since South Sudan's independence. Human Rights Watch has documented serious security service violations such as arbitrary detentions of people for their perceived political views, and of journalists.
Following the outbreak of new conflict in South Sudan in December 2013, the security service increased censorship and detained several journalists, creating an atmosphere of fear for journalists and independent groups.
Earlier in 2014, the security service ordered the newspaper Almajhar Alsayasy, to cease publication. Authorities have confiscated issues of another weekly newspaper, Juba Monitor, eight times in the past seven months.
In June, security officials seized an entire run of the Citizen, another weekly newspaper. In August, the security service suspended the Catholic FM Radio Bahkita for several weeks, locking the office, arresting three staff members, and detaining one for three days over a report about the army's death toll in a battle.
The Justice Ministry drafted the bill and introduced it in the National Legislative Assembly in May. The bill gives the National Security Service officers the same powers of arrest and detention as the police, but does not specify where people it detains are to be held. It also does not explicitlyguarantee detainees basic due process rights, such as the right to counsel. The bill also grants the security officers wide powers of surveillance and the authority to search and seize property without clear judicial oversight, and shields them from any criminal liability.
South Sudan's transitional constitution, which contains due process guarantees, envisages a National Security Service with a mandate that includes "information gathering, analysis and advice to the relevant authorities." Those provisions are the same as were in Sudan's Interim National Constitution, passed after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) continues to enjoy broad powers of arrest, detention, search, and seizure that do not comply with international human rights standards. Sudanese and international human rights groups have long called for the reform of Sudan's law.
The conflict that began in South Sudan in December 2013 has been characterized by unlawful attacks on civilians - often targeted and killed because of their ethnicity - and civilian property. The violence has killed thousands of people, largely destroyed key towns, and forced an estimated 1.5 million people to flee their homes, often to places where they face severe hunger.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have documented abuses that constitute war crimes by both government and opposition forces as well as potential crimes against humanity.
"South Sudan's security service has been operating for years without a legal mandate," Bekele said. "There needs to be a legal basis for security service actions, but it should be an agency that will protect rights, not one that creates the kind of security body South Sudanese fought to free themselves from."
Source http://allafrica.com/stories/201410061068.html
Newer articles:
- Aid agencies warn of looming famine in S. Sudan next year - 07/10/2014 07:06
- UN envoy on sexual violence warns rapes in South Sudan will 'haunt' generations - 06/10/2014 23:05
- South Sudan: Famine Threatens If Conflict Deepens - Report - 06/10/2014 15:37
- South Sudan: Too Much At Stake for Govt to Expel Foreign Workers - 06/10/2014 13:38
- Kala-azar cases on the rise in South Sudan: UN - 06/10/2014 12:00
Older news items
- ‘If famine comes to South Sudan it will come through the barrel of a gun’ - 06/10/2014 11:37
- South Sudan: Frustration Breeds Violence in IDP Camps - 06/10/2014 09:23
- South Sudan Peace Talks Take Another Break - 06/10/2014 09:02
- Frustration Breeds Violence in S. Sudan IDP Camps - 06/10/2014 02:47
- Famine threatens South Sudan if conflict deepens - report - 06/10/2014 01:13
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan Transitional Government’s Perpetual Extension of Its Mandate ‘Ultimate Obstacle to Democracy - 08/11/2024 17:11
- Salva Kiir: South Sudan’s president fought for independence, but then fuelled division, violence and corruption - 08/11/2024 16:56
- Alarming spike in childhood malaria admissions in South Sudan - 08/11/2024 16:55
- Presidents of South Sudan and Kenya push for a resolution in stalled peace talks - 08/11/2024 16:51
- Christian Aid Christmas Appeal: Rebuilding lives in South Sudan - 08/11/2024 16:45
Random articles (all categories):
- UN urges action on marking disputed Sudan-South Sudan border - 11/10/2018 13:54
- Rapid disease mapping could guide treatment in South Sudan - SciDev.Net - 23/01/2013 06:01
- Sudan Pledges Cooperation with ICC on Former Leader Omar al-Bashir | Voice of America - English - 19/10/2020 09:26
- Norway working with South Sudan on hydropower project - 31/08/2013 03:47
- China-South Sudan Relations: From Margin to the Spotlight - 02/10/2018 15:05
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 56547 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22173 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21302 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18741 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 17631 times