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The African Union Commission\u2019s failure to advance justice for the countless victims of atrocities in South Sudan raises concerns about the regional body\u2019s commitment to accountability, 34 South Sudanese, regional, and international rights organizations said in a\u00a0letter to the AU Commission<\/a>\u00a0released today.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The South Sudanese government, after years of delay,\u00a0announced on January 29<\/a>, 2021 that it had approved the establishment of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, along with truth telling and compensation mechanisms, provided for under\u00a0the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan, which ended the country\u2019s brutal civil war<\/a>. The AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat,\u00a0welcomed the statement<\/a>\u00a0and promised to work with the government to create the court. But six months on, the rights groups said they have found no evidence of any concrete action taken, and the AU has not responded to their June 14 letter.<\/p>\n The people of South Sudan \u201centrusted the AU to ensure that justice is delivered and contributes to ending the culture of impunity,\u201d the groups said in the letter. \u201cThe AU\u2019s apparent inaction raises serious questions about the AU\u2019s credibility not only in atrocity prevention in South Sudan, but across the African continent where many are looking to you for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n The AU\u2019s 2014 Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan\u00a0recommended<\/a>\u00a0the creation of \u201can Africa-led, Africa-owned, Africa-resourced legal mechanism under the aegis of the African Union,\u201d which would include South Sudanese judges and lawyers, to bring justice for international crimes committed during South Sudan\u2019s conflict. The AU also released a Transitional Justice Policy in 2019 that provides for justice and accountability for international crimes alongside other non-criminal measures to help rebuild societies that have suffered widespread violence, such as South Sudan.<\/p>\n In 2015, the US government committed US$5 million to the AU\u00a0\u00a0to help set up the Hybrid Court for South Sudan<\/a>. After several years, during which the AU did not use the majority of the funds, the US State Department confirmed in July that an unused allocation of US$3.65 million\u00a0would not be renewed<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current paralysis undermines the notion of African solutions to African problems, and risks signaling that the AU is unable and unwilling to exert leadership where it matters most for the people whom the AU represents,\u201d the groups said in the letter. \u201cThe adoption of the AU Transitional Justice Policy will be meaningless if the AU does not act when it has taken on a lead role in advancing accountability, as it did in South Sudan.\u201d<\/p>\n Human rights organizations have previously said that the AU Commission should work with the South Sudanese authorities on the court\u2019s formation, but should also\u00a0move ahead to establish the court<\/a>\u00a0if South Sudan\u2019s authorities lag on needed steps, such as adoption of the court\u2019s statute. This is consistent with the 2018 peace agreement, and the\u00a0earlier 2015 peace agreement<\/a>, which provides for the AU Commission to establish the court. The AU should confirm publicly that it remains committed to creating the hybrid court and providing a credible roadmap and timeline.<\/p>\n South Sudanese, African, and international organizations \u201creiterate that it is incumbent on the AU Commission \u2026 to take immediate action to show that it remains committed to the inherent right of the people of South Sudan to have justice,\u201d the groups said in the letter.<\/p>\n Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).<\/i><\/p>\n Source<\/a> The African Union Commission\u2019s failure to advance justice for the countless victims of atrocities in South Sudan raises concerns about the regional body\u2019s commitment to accountability, 34 South Sudanese, regional, and international rights organizations said in a\u00a0letter to the AU Commission\u00a0released today. The South Sudanese government, after years of delay,\u00a0announced on January 29, 2021 that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1632195019_137_418.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[258,256,4380,4696,281,25646,4691,450,279,280,6852,257,5069,254,4708,6156],"class_list":["post-74703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dr-congo","tag-africa","tag-africa-news","tag-african","tag-central-africa","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-disappoints","tag-dr-congo","tag-dr-congo-news","tag-drc","tag-drc-news","tag-justice","tag-news","tag-south","tag-south-africa-today","tag-sudan","tag-union"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1632195019_137_418.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Central Africa Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"