South Sudan - July 2024

On 3 July, South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly passed amendments to the National Security Services Act, expanding the powers of the country’s National Security Service (NSS) to arrest and detain people without a warrant. The NSS has been a key instrument of state repression, engaging in surveillance, arbitrary arrests, torture and suppression of dissent. The amendments allow the NSS to arrest individuals for ‘crimes against the state,’ a vaguely worded provision that critics argue is often used to suppress freedoms of expression, assembly, and association, and further place the de facto powers of the NSS on a statutory footing. The law’s adoption disregards recommendations to limit NSS powers to intelligence gathering, as outlined in the Transitional Constitution of 2011. The law now heads to President Salva Kiir, who has 30 days to assent or return it to parliament. Rights groups, opposition members and western countries have urged President Kiir to reject the bill and instead align it with constitutional and international standards.

Sources: Human Rights Watch (1), Human Rights Watch (2), U.S. Embassy in South Sudan, UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Amnesty International, Radio Tamazuj