UN human rights expert group begin 12-day visit South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia

JUBA (20 August 2018) – Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan will today begin their fifth field mission to South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia. The mission will take place from 20 to 31 August 2018.

The three Commissioners taking part in the mission, Yasmin Sooka (chairperson), Andrew Clapham and Barney Afako will be in South Sudan for five days (20 to 24 August). They are expected to meet Government officials including the First Vice President and key ministers, members of civil society, religious leaders, diplomats and UN agencies and staff of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), including the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in South Sudan, David Shearer, to discuss the current human rights situation in the country. 

The Commissioners also intend to visit camps for internally displaced persons across the country, including UNMISS Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites, to meet the people living there, community leaders and civil society organisations.

The Commissioners will hold a press conference on Friday 24 August 2017 at 1100hrs in the UNMISS HQ at Tomping (Juba Conference room)

From 25 to 29 August 2018, the Commissioners will separately visit Uganda, Sudan and Kenya, where they will visit refugee camps and settlements along the South Sudanese border. The Commissioners will conclude their mission in Ethiopia on 30 and 31 August holding meetings with African Union leaders, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), senior UN officials, as well as other members of the international community.

The Commission is an independent body mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to, among other things, 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, including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence, with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability. The Commission will present an oral update on the human rights situation in South Sudan to the Human Rights Council on 17th September 2018, and a comprehensive written report in March 2019.

For more information, please contact Joël Mermet (in Juba) + 211 (0)912 170 655 / jmermet@ohchr.org, Joseph Bonsu (in Addis Ababa) +251 984 875 005 / jbonsu@ohchr.org

For more information about the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, please see: http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-h-south-sudan/index