Watchdog calls for signing of transitional justice bills into law

JUBA – South Sudan’s civil society watchdog Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) is urging the transitional parliament to swiftly submit the passed transitional justice bills to President Salva Kiir Mayardit for signing into law.

The parliament on September 3, 2024, passed, in their third readings, two bills necessary for the transitional justice in South Sudan: the Commission for Truth, Healing, and National Reconciliation (CTHR) Bill and the Compensations and Reparation Authority (CRA) Bill.

South Sudan’s president is required to sign the bills into laws within 30 days; otherwise, they become laws by default. However, the parliament has yet to submit the bills to the president for his signature.

In a statement to Sudans Post, Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of CEPO, called on the parliament to expedite the submission of the bills.

“CEPO initiative of Transitional Justice Resources Center is urging the leadership of the National legislative assembly to urgently process the passed legislation on transitional justice namely Commission for Truth, Healing and National Reconciliation (CTHR) legislation and Compensations and Reparation Authority (CRA) legislation,” he said.

South Sudan plunged into a deadly civil war fought along ethnic lines in December 2013. The conflict, pitting President Kiir’s ethnic Dinka Community against First Vice President Riek Machar’s Nuer Community, resulted in the deaths of approximately 400,000 people, initially starting as a mass killing of the ethnic Nuer civilians in Juba in 2013.

In 2018, Kiir and Machar signed a peace agreement known as the Revitalized Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCISS).

Transitional justice is a critical component of the agreement, aiming to address the legacy of past human rights violations and promote reconciliation. The CTHR and CRA are key institutions mandated to investigate and document past atrocities, provide reparations to victims, and promote healing and reconciliation.

Yakani emphasized the importance of a functional transitional justice process for a genuine political transition in South Sudan. “There will be no genuine political transitional process in our country without a functional transitional justice process,” he said.

He warned that the country’s broken social fabric, injustice, and widespread human rights violations, particularly those stemming from the 2013 armed political violence, require timely and sincere transitional justice engagement before the national elections and constitutional making process. “The broken social fabric, injustice and witness gross human rights violations among the South Sudanese from 2013 armed political violence requires genuine and timely transitional justice engagement prior the country going to hold national elections including constitutional making process,” he added.

Yakani further warned that failing to address the past’s wrongs could lead to renewed violence during civic and political public engagements. “The worst of the past if remain can healed are likely to trigger new deadly violence during civic and political public engagements,” he said.

He emphasized the paramount importance of institutionalizing genuine transitional justice in South Sudan prior to the conduct of national general elections and the constitutional making process. “Institutioning genuine functional transitional justice in South Sudan prior to the conduct of national general elections and constitutional making process among other transitional justice is very paramount for nurturing the process for regaining of trust and confidence for honest and sincere public and political actors engagement for political transitional process for winning sound peace and stability,” he said.

The activist urged the leadership of the country not to politicize the establishment of transitional justice institutions, as they have done with other independent institutions like the National Election Commission. “CEPO transitional Justice Resources centers are raining serious alarm to the leadership of the country to not politicize the establishment of the transitional justice institutions like what they did for the independent institutions like National Election Commission among others,” Yakani stressed.