What is next after the graduation of the necessary unified forces?
Posted: 20 September, 2022 Filed under: Garang Yach James | Tags: Agreement on Permanent Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements, Civil Defence, complex geopolitics, Equatoria region, lack of political will, national army, National Police Service, national security, political will, Prison Services, RACRSS, Republic of South Sudan, Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflicts in South Sudan, security implications, South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, SPLA-IO, Transitional Security Arrangement, unified forces, Wildlife Leave a comment
Author: Garang Yach J
South Sudanese Political and security analyst and PhD Student, University of Juba, South Sudan
Summary
The article attempts to answer the question of what is next after the parties have finally graduated the long-awaited necessary unified forces in accordance with the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflicts in South Sudan (RACRSS). It identifies four key issues and their respective security implications at the center of the transitional security arrangements. The author concludes that the graduation of the necessary unified forces is not the surest guarantee of a stabilised security situation although it is a show of political will that has been lacking since the coming to effect of the RARCSS in 2018. Addressing the identified key dilemmas will in turn address their respective security implications thus tranquilise the problematic security situation across the country.
The author ends by giving three pertinent recommendations for policy action if the transitional security arrangements were to set a stage for a democratic South Sudan by the end of the 24-month extended period.
The right to peaceful assembly and the COVID-19 pandemic: a threatened right; an ironic connection
Posted: 21 May, 2020 Filed under: Foluso Adegalu | Tags: Absolute prohibition, African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, African Constitutions, article 11, Bill of Rights, COVID-19, government, international law, national security, Non-prohibition, pandemic, Partial prohibition, peaceful assembly, physical distancing, physical gathering of persons, public safety, social distancing, The right to peaceful assembly 1 Comment
Author: Foluso Adegalu
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
The right to peaceful assembly enables individuals to express themselves collectively and to participate in shaping their societies and can be of particular importance to marginalised and disenfranchised members of society. The right to peaceful assembly entails a legitimate use of the public space. Although the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly is normally understood to pertain to the physical gathering of persons, comparable human rights protections also apply to acts of collective expression through digital means, for example online gatherings.
The right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed under both international and national laws. The right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed under article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which provides that:
every individual shall have the right to assemble freely with others. The exercise of this right shall be subject only to necessary restrictions provided for by law in particular those enacted in the interest of national security, the safety, health, ethics and rights and freedoms of others.
The impact of Internet shutdowns in Africa
Posted: 21 February, 2019 Filed under: Tomiwa Ilori | Tags: ACHPR, Africa, African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, African Governments, Arab-spring, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), digital rights, Egypt, electoral malpractices, Freedom of Expression And Access to Information, general elections, ICCPR, ICESCR, internet, internet shutdown, Johannesburg Principles on National Security, national security, public protests, shutdown, Siracusa Principles, state power, Sudan, technology, violations, Zimbabwe 1 Comment
Author: Tomiwa Ilori
LLD Candidate, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
In the past, authoritarianism like any other form of illegitimacy has always been paranoid of disruptions. The internet, since its decentralisation in the last century, has blurred boundary lines, projected a classless society and looked to upset apple carts in political spaces. It is typical that this form of “magic” that could redefine state power rattled many governments. African governments soon began to show overt signs of paranoia and not too long, Africa became the first continent to experience an internet shutdown in Egypt on 28 January 2011. Since then, several governments in Africa have constantly violated digital rights with the justification of national security which supposes that both are mutually exclusive.
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