The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights continues to follow closely the situation in South Sudan.
The African Commission remains concerned about the consequences of non-implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan of September 2018 and the occasion that this has created for the perpetration of human and peoples’ rights violations and the vacuum of responsibility it has created for respecting and ensuring respect for human and peoples’ rights in South Sudan.
The African Commission welcomes the political will that the leaders of the parties to the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement showed and their affirmation of their agreement to proceed the formation of the Government of National Unity at the end of the extended pre-transitional period which is on 22 February. This is a key milestone for the implementation of important aspects of the peace agreement entailing critical institutional and governance reforms and transitional justice mechanisms.
The African Commission remains concerned about the human and peoples’ rights situation in South Sudan as reported and documented by South Sudanese and international organizations, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan and South Sudanese and International media.
The African Commission reminds the South Sudanese authorities and the parties to the September 2018 revitalized Peace agreement that they bear responsibility for respecting the human and peoples’ rights of South Sudanese. In this regard, the Commission urges that the GNU upon its establishment prioritizes the adoption of measures for ending both the incidents of violations of human and peoples’ rights and the impunity resulting from the lack of investigation and prosecution of reported acts of violations.
Recalling its resolution on South Sudan ACHPR/Res.428(LXV)2019 adopted during the 65th ordinary session, the African Commission also calls on the GNU to initiate the necessary legislative, institutional and budgetary measures for the complementary implementation of all the transitional justice mechanisms of Chapter V of the Revitalized Peace Agreement.
The African Commission urges the parties to implement the transitional period measures and processes envisaged in the Revitalized Peace Agreement, including the accountability and remedial measures envisaged under Chapter V of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, with the utmost responsibility and compromise and for upholding the rights and interests of the peoples of South Sudan, who bore the brunt of the conflict and the attendant violations for all these years.
The African Commission also calls on the GNU, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the AU and the UN to initiate and implement collective measures envisaged in the AU Transitional Justice Policy and the complementary African Commission’s Study on Transitional Justice including provision of humanitarian assistance, medical and psychosocial support, and social and economic rehabilitation assistance for those affected by the conflict including notably women and children, and other assistance for the free return of internally displaced persons and refugees.
Finally, the Commission reiterates its request for the GNU of South Sudan to invite it to undertake a human rights protection mission in the country.
