Celebrations of the first anniversary of South Sudan’s independence.
To build Africa’s newest state, South Sudan, from scratch — with hardly any institutions, little infrastructure beyond the capital Juba and a rebel army that needs to be transformed into a responsible police force — is a monumental task.
But can that justify slow progress on the protection of human rights in South Sudan? Has the euphoria of independence created a complacent attitude towards the new government of President Salva Kiir?
Lawyers and human rights activists say they are increasingly concerned about being sidelined by the government and about attempts to limit free speech.
They object to what they call the government’s hostile approach towards civil society and the media, and have called on the international community to not treat South Sudan’s government with kid gloves.
There are also more and more reports about abuses by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and a debate about the death penalty in a country with 250 prisoners on death row.
International NGOs streamed into South Sudan’s bustling new capital, Juba, which is also home to several thousand United Nations (UN) personnel, after independence in July 2011, eager to see a new country emerge after decades of civil war with the north.
Businesses, mainly from South Africa, looked to the oil-rich South Sudan as the new Eldorado. Two and a half years later, money continues to flow into aid projects, but the security situation is deteriorating.
Activists say that they are not being sufficiently consulted in the lengthy process of redrafting laws and of the review of the Bill of Rights. A new constitution, to replace the 2011 Transitional Constitution, should be in place by 2015.
Concerns
Edmund Yakani, chairperson of the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network, which regroups 16 civil society organisations, says human rights activists are concerned about the planned new media laws and the controversial Voluntary and non-governmental Humanitarian Organisations Bill.
Yakani compares the NGO bill to similar attempts to curb foreign NGOs in neighbouring Ethiopia.
If passed, the new legislation would oblige civil society organisations to ask permission from the concerned minister to access foreign funding.
“It could mean the shutting down of many advocacy organisations,” Yakani said in a telephonic conversation from the south of the country.
“The NGO environment is not good. We are worried that the government wants to tamper with our freedom through the new law.”
Commenting on the bill, the Washington-based International Centre for Not-For-Profit Law says the government — with its roots in the guerrilla movement — still sees NGOs as having a primarily humanitarian function and feels threatened by civil society organisations advocating for the protection of civil liberties.
“It is imperative for NGOs, the government and other stakeholders to come to an understanding about the diverse range of activities of NGOs and the essential role NGOs can play in the democratic and economic development of South Sudan,” the centre says in a report on South Sudan.
Journalists threatened
Another crucial issue for human rights organisations is the intimidation of media practitioners.
According to human rights activists several journalists have been forced to flee their homes due to threats from security forces.
Last year a journalist critical of the government was murdered at his home after being threatened.
Earlier this month, the South Sudan Human Rights Society for Advocacy (SSHURSA) complained to the minister for information and broadcasting, Michael Makuei Lueth, about earlier statements he made against the media in South Sudan calling on all journalists to “resubmit their credentials” to the government.
This followed a report that President Kiir had allegedly tried to conceal a trip to South Africa for medical treatment. The SSHURSA said in its statement that the minister should stop “harassing” the media.
“His intimidating words towards the media practitioners show the destructive, bitter and dictatorial path South Sudan is going through,” says the organisation.
Consultation is currently underway to draw up of a new media law, which has been sent back to parliament by the president’s office.
One of the issues under dispute is the control of the board of the broadcasting body, as well as wording of certain parts of the document pertaining to access to information.
Apart from the threat of restrictive laws, activists in South Sudan also say human rights of ordinary citizens are severely affected by a weak judiciary and the lack of capacity in the police and criminal justice system in general.
Human Rights Watch says in its 2013 report on South Sudan that “weaknesses in the justice system give rise to serious human rights violations, such as prolonged periods of pre-trial detention and poor detention conditions”.
Nguen Riak, a member of the SSHURSA says the weakness of the criminal justice system is compounded by a lack of “sufficient checks and balances”.
“The executive, judiciary and the legislative branches of government are not separate, but heavily controlled by the executive. This completely paralyses the functioning of the other branches of government,” he says.
The death penalty is still legal in Sudan and citizens are divided over its possible abolition.
Human rights abuses
According to Yakani, many people, especially those in rural areas, believe the death penalty is necessary given the high level of communal violence.
Thousands of people have died in the past few years in revenge attacks linked to cattle rustling and disputes over land.
“The elite is divided between those who feel the death penalty should be maintained, but curbed, and others, including activists, lawyers and the Catholic Church, want to see the death penalty abolished,” says Yakani. “I agree with them. No-one can take the life of another.”
Riak says activists would also like to see corporal punishment and “parental or domestic violence” that is prevalent in some communities abolished and outlawed in the new constitution.
The deteriorating security situation in various parts of the country, such as the troubled Jonglei State, has raised serious concerns about human rights abuses on the part of the security forces.
UN personnel are among those complaining of mistreatment.
According to the Security Council report, staff of the UN Mission in South Sudan had reported “67 cases of harassments, threats, physical assaults, arrests and detentions of UN personnel and seizures of UN vehicles” between May 7 and November 5.
In an editorial published by CNN on its website, SSHURSA executive director Biel Boutros Biel says that South Sudanese are increasingly experiencing a lack of political will to end abuses and hold wrongdoers to account.
“Politicians who do not want to see justice done should not be allowed the excuse that South Sudan is a young country.”
This article was produced in partnership with the South Africa Forum for International Solidarity (Safis) safis.org.za. Views expressed here do not necessarilly reflect those of Safis or the Mail & Guardian