Human Rights Council President appoints Barney Afako of Uganda as new member of South Sudan body

GENEVA (14 June 2018) - The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Vojislav Šuc of Slovenia, announced today the appointment of Barney Afako of Uganda to serve as a member of the Council-mandated body charged with monitoring and assessing the human rights situation in South Sudan. 

Mr. Afako will join Yasmin Sooka of South Africa, Chairperson of the Commission since June 2016, and Andrew Clapham of the United Kingdom, whose appointment as a member of the Commission was announced in September 2017.  He will replace Godfrey Musila who recently stepped down as a member of the three-person Commission. 

Having had a distinguished career in human rights, refugee law, criminal and transitional justice, and conflict mediation, Mr. Afako brings to the Commission a wealth of knowledge on South Sudan, with a particular focus on reconciliation efforts in the world’s newest nation. 

The Human Rights Council decided to establish the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in March 2016 to monitor and report on the human rights situation in South Sudan and to make recommendations on accountability.  

Following the presentation of its comprehensive report to the Human Rights Council in March 2018, the Commission’s mandate was extended for an additional year, until March 2019, with a continuing mandate “to determine and report the facts and circumstances of, collect and preserve evidence of, and clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes”. 

The Commission is scheduled to present an oral update to the 47-member Human Rights Council at its thirty-ninth session in September 2018, and a comprehensive written report to the Council at its fortieth session in March 2019.

Biography

Mr. Barney Afako (Uganda) is a lawyer with experience in conflict mediation.  He has worked in the fields of human rights, refugee law, criminal justice and transitional justice issued in several countries.  He is a part-time Tribunal Judge in the United Kingdom.  Between 2006 and 2008, he was the Chief Legal Advisor to the South Sudanese mediation in the Juba Peace Talks between the Government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army.  In that capacity, he developed and drafted the Final Peace Agreement, with particular responsibility for the Agreement on Reconciliation and Accountability.  In 2009, he advised the African Union Panel on Darfur (AUPD) and was responsible for drafting the justice recommendations of the AUPD's report.  From 2010, he has been an adviser to the African Union High Level Implementation Panel on South Sudan, which was responsible for facilitating negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan on secession issues.

More information about the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan

For more information and media requests, please contact: Joseph Bonsu (+41 22 928 9417 / jbonsu@ohchr.org) or Rolando Gómez (+41 22 917 9711 / rgomez@ohchr.org)

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