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Western diplomatic missions in Juba have expressed serious concern about legislation passed by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly that gives the National Security Service (NSS) the power to arrest and detain without a warrant.
The bill “will be an important step towards opening up the political and civic space, a prerequisite for truly peaceful elections,” the embassies of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The diplomatic mission claimed that “the enactment of this bill would be regrettable at any time, but especially now, as it would undermine the transitional government’s claim that there is a political and civic space.”
All South Sudanese should have the right to freely participate in political and civic expression without fear of arbitrary arrest or intimidation by security agents, they concluded.
last week, South Sudan Parliament Voting in favor of the National Security Law (Amendment) Bill 2024, 2014, President Salva Kiir must assent to the bill within 30 days before it becomes law.
Sections 54 and 55 of the Act empower national security officers to arrest and detain, without a warrant, any person suspected of having committed an offence against the State.
The broad and loose definitions of these offences in Section 7 of the Act have led to the arrest and detention of many people for legitimate civic and political activities. Although anyone detained must be brought before a judge within 24 hours, this rarely happens.
The country will hold its first ever election on December 22.
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