JUBA, August 11, 2024 – A civil society group has urged South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir to reject the recently passed National Security Act (Amendment) Bill 2024. The bill, considered controversial by many, is seen as a threat to citizens’ rights. It follows an agreement between President Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar to remove sections granting the National Security Service (NSS) the power to arrest and detain individuals without a warrant.
Speaking at a Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) meeting in Juba on Thursday, Christopher Taban, Executive Director of Vision for Generation and a member of the R-JMEC, expressed concern over the lack of presidential response since the bill’s approval over 30 days ago. “Is the President for it or not? The law gives him 30 days to make his decision,” Taban said. He warned that enacting the bill could push the country back into a repressive era.
The original 2014 National Security Service Act allowed officers to arrest and detain suspects without a warrant for offenses broadly defined under section 7. Although detainees were supposed to appear before a judge within 24 hours, this rarely occurred. South Sudan recently acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on February 5, 2024, which mandates protections against arbitrary arrest and detention.
