Rights Groups: Fix South Sudan Security Services Bill

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are urging South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly to revise the National Security Service bill to end what they say is the agency’s arbitrary arrests and other alleged abusive practices.

Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said parliament should ensure the National Security Service Amendment limits the security service’s powers and strengthens agency oversight.

“The agency has exerted its authority without meaningful judicial or legislative oversight, agents are rarely punished for abuses, and the government lacks the political will to address these widespread practices,” said Segun.

She added that such abuses have left many victims with “long-term physical and mental health conditions without remedy or compensation.”

The National Security Service Act of 2014 gives the agency broad and unqualified powers that allow it to “commit serious abuses with impunity, sustaining a climate of repression and fear,” Segun told South Sudan in Focus.

She said while the amendment process continues, the South Sudan government should order the closure of all unauthorized detention sites operated by the National Security Service and release detainees or hand them over to legitimate law enforcement officials for charge and fair trial.

In particular, authorities should also disclose the “whereabouts, status, and condition of Morris Mabior Awik Jiok,” a South Sudanese refugee transferred from Kenya in early March, said Segun.

Jiok is reportedly being held at the NSS’s Blue House detention facility.

If the new law is going to be meaningful, it should be accompanied by measures to hold officers, including senior officials accountable for rights abuses, said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region.

She said the bill has many positive provisions, but “there are still several areas that require further work, and we are concerned the amendment still has vague and broad provisions that would allow the agency to have unqualified powers.”

John Agany, Chairperson of Parliament’s Information Committee the assembly’s official spokesperson said lawmakers are working on tweaking the bill.

“The National Security bill was tabled about three weeks ago to the national legislature for the first reading stage. It has only been suspended because of the national budget that is now being scrutinized and deliberated,” said Agany.

Information minister Michael Makuei said South Sudan will not take orders from outside groups.

“We are a sovereign state and our laws are our laws. We cannot be dictated to by any other person to tell us that he wants our laws to be amended, no.” said Makuei.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other rights groups say the National Security Service’s broad powers have contributed to shrinking the civic space.