Members of the South Sudanese parliament have sent a UN Convention document back to committee level for further scrutiny rather than ratify it.
The International Convention on Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination will be studied by three committees of the parliament, according to the Speaker of the Assembly.
He said that the legislators have been asked to clarify on whether the convention covers the rights of homosexuals and whether it defines the powers international courts over signatories.
Speaker Manasseh Magok Rundial said, “There is ambiguity here on the right to marry or choice of spouse. Nobody, no law is going to impose on us homosexualism or the gay right, no, because our constitution overrides it.”
He may have been referring to Article 5 (iv) of the Convention, which recognizes “The right to marriage and choice of spouse.” This provision was apparently originally intended to prohibit bans on inter-racial marriages. But the wording is sufficiently ambiguous, according to Manasseh, to warrant further scrutiny.
The Speaker has directed for the convention to be presented back to the House on Wednesday. A section of MPs say the convention is not clearly defined.
“As this House goes through the convention and then we get reservations, it is the committee, the one who advises us to make reservations on that.”