Western governments criticize controversial South Sudan security bill for undermining open political and civil space

Jingwen Liu | Chinese U. Hong Kong Faculty of Law, CN/HK

JULY 12, 2024 

Nine Western embassies, including the US, criticized a controversial security bill in South Sudan that allows the government to detain people without warrants on Thursday.

The joint statement issued by the Embassies of Canada, the EU, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US expressed “grave concern” over South Sudan’s passage of the legislation that gives the National Security Service (NSS) the authority to conduct arrests and detentions without warrants.  “This would constitute a significant step away from the opening of political and civic space, which is a prerequisite for genuine and peaceful elections to take place. Enactment of the bill into law would be regrettable at any time, but particularly now when it would undermine the transitional government’s assertions that political and civic space exists,” the joint statement said.

In addition to the joint statement, US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller stated on Wednesday that the US remains gravely concerned by this decision, urging the South Sudanese government “to create an environment in which the South Sudanese people can express their views openly and without fear.”

The amendment bill to the 2015 National Security Service Act was recently passed by the National Legislative Assembly of South Sudan on July 3 and it now waiting for presidential assent. The proposed amendment has been subject to great controversy for granting broad arrest powers to the NSS under “emergency circumstances” and in the case of “crimes against the state.” The NSS allegedly has a history of abusing such broad and ambiguously defined power by conducting prolonged and arbitrary detentions or torturing detainees, often resulting in death, in violation of human rights.

Human rights organizations have been urging South Sudanese President Salva Kiir to take action and reject the bill. The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said on Wednesday that the bill will entrench arbitrary detention and further repression by the NSS, and therefore urged the president to return the bill to legislators for revision, “to align it with South Sudan’s human rights obligations.”

Amnesty International urges President Kiir to send the bill back to parliament for review and significant amendment, to ensure that the bill “conforms to the Constitution and international human rights standards.”

Africans for the Horn of Africa (Af4HA) initiative similarly calls on President Kiir to reject the bill and return it to parliament for revision in line with South Sudan’s constitutional and international human rights obligations, as well as South Sudan’s partners to express their concerns to urge the President not to sign the bill.

Notably, South Sudan has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since February 2024. The Covenant protects against arbitrary arrests and detentions, requiring anyone arrested or detained to be brought promptly before a judge

U.S. Embassy in Brunei, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons