The people of South Sudan deserve peace so that everybody can live in dignity, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRGS) said in Juba today.

Ellen Loej was speaking at a panel discussion organized by UNMISS to commemorate Human Rights Day.
Senior government officials, as well as representatives from civil society and human rights organizations attended the event.

“The struggle for the rights and freedoms of all South Sudanese was always at the very heart of the fight for independence,” said Ms. Loej. “Sadly, the South Sudanese people have witnessed a dramatic deterioration in the human rights situation in their country since December 2013.”

Noting that the ensuing violence ignited a wave of grave human rights violations and abuses for which victims and their families required justice, the SRSG stressed that impunity had to be addressed “if the cycle of violence is to be broken and to allow the people of South Sudan to enjoy all the rights as citizens of this country”.

“The signing of the Peace Agreement by the parties gives us all hope that we can work to end human rights violations and put an end to a culture of impunity,” she said. “However, if any efforts at national healing and reconciliation are to prove sustainable, the nation of South Sudan needs to come together starting with the leaders – they must put aside their differences and implement the agreement in full including the human rights aspects.”

The chairman of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, Nyuol Justic Yaac, urged the government to ratify two main human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Mr. Yaac added that aside from the government, citizens and enforcement agencies also have an important role to play.

“The war on human rights is not a battle that can be won by government alone,” he said. “Households have to participate as well. We have to learn how we can advance human rights ourselves and how to live in diversity.’’

Presidential Legal Advisor Lawrence Korbandy said one of the main obstacles to securing human rights rests was to be found in elements of law enforcement agencies.

“Some police officers may think that it would violate their culture or their personal feelings to enforce human rights,” he said. 

He asked the international community to help the country overcome these problems by training the police and strengthening its institutions.

“Human rights are relatively new to us,” said Mr. Korbandy. “We need to learn from others, together with others.”

Another panelist, Lorna Merekaje, said it was important to bolster the information provided to citizens.

Noting that the country has an illiteracy rate of about 85 per cent, Ms. Merekaje called on government to reach out to people living in rural areas to inform them about their civil rights.