The Government of South Sudan on Thursday said it is displeased by the recent report of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan which details violations and abuses in the country.
According to Justice Ruben Madol Arol, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the government read the report and found it deplorable. He said the authors never considered the government’s efforts to implement the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, 2018 (R-ARCSS).
“It contains absurd, unverified and unrealistic allegations of human rights violations and abuses, political repression, economic predation, discrimination of women, inequality, sexual violence, sexual slavery and displacement of millions,” Justice Madol said. “The events described in the report of the Commission cannot match the current improvement of the security situation in the country. The report has also decried South Sudan as a country without visionary leadership to fight communal violence, this description is undermining to the status of South Sudan as a sovereign state, a direct interference in the internal affairs of the country, and is an affront to its leadership.”
“The Commission’s use of words and description of ‘widespread sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls being a national crisis’ is misleading to the international community as South Sudan being a country without established rule of law institutions,” he added.
The minister stated that South Sudan’s delegation to the 55th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva met with Ilze Brands Kehns, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, to update her on progress made in the implementation of the Peace Agreement, especially the reconstitution of the National Constitutional Review Commission, Elections Commission, Political Parties Council and the reform in the judiciary.
He said the delegation also informed the Undersecretary General of the deposit to the United Nations and the African Union, the instruments of Accession of the International Convention on Persons with Disabilities; Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and their Optional Protocols in addition to the Maputo Protocol.
The Justice Minister said the delegation requested the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva to provide urgent technical assistance and capacity-building support to the rule of law institutions, Constitutional Review Commission, National Elections Commission, and training of the Members of the National Human Rights Council, including any other support as the High Commissioner may deem appropriate.
Additionally, Justice Madol said the delegation informed the Human Rights Council of the efforts of the Government to combat sexual and gender-based violence, through trials by the Judiciary, General Court Martial, and Mobile Courts. He added that they also informed the Council that the government seeks a cordial relationship with the international community through dialogue and presented for consideration and adoption by the Council including, the Commission, to share evidence and names of the individuals and entities accused of human rights violations to enable the government evaluate the evidence with a view of addressing them through accountability.
He also said the government accepts the Commission to monitor and report human rights situations but that its powers of investigation should be relinquished to the government and UNMISS and also that the government rejects the intrusion by the Commission and expansion of its mandate into monitoring the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement which is the mandate of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC).
“If these positions are accepted, the government will accept the extension of the mandate of the Commission for a period of one year only,” Madol stressed.