African Union and South Sudan stalling on human rights court

A member of the United Nations commission on human rights has warned that the African Union and South Sudan are failing in their joint responsibility to set up a court to prosecute atrocities committed in the country.

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Kenneth Scott who is the U.N investigator:

“There is no reason to think that a robust hybrid court will be set up any time soon by the African Union, if ever. Indeed some senior officials have told us that it will never happen.”

He also said that both parties have declined to provide the draft documents of the matter to the commission.

Both regional and international actors seem unable to exert any substantial influence on the warring parties to stop the conflict, while regional national interests undermine collective action to save the newly established nation.

A commission set up by the UN to monitor the human rights situation in the country called for the “immediate establishment of an international, independent investigation into the most serious crimes committed since December 2013.

South Sudan has been plagued by an ethnic conflict that has left tens of thousands dead after President Salva Kiir sacked his deputy Riek Machar in July 2016.