Arabic version: لجنة أممية تحذر من افتقار انتخابات جنوب السودان إلى الضمانات

According to Allafrica, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has warned that political, security and human rights safeguards needed for peaceful and credible elections are largely absent as the country approaches its first national vote since independence.

National elections are scheduled for Dec. 22. In an advisory titled At the Brink: Preventing Atrocity Crimes and Safeguarding South Sudan’s Transition, the commission said multiple risk factors for atrocity crimes are converging.

The commission cited renewed armed conflict in several areas, the abandonment of inclusive politics, weakened civic space and constitutional safeguards, the continued absence of accountability mechanisms, and the exclusion of significant parts of the population from meaningful political participation.

It cautioned that a vote held without a strategy for democratic consolidation and preventing national schisms could fuel renewed conflict and raise the risk of atrocity crimes. The commission said its concern was not whether elections should take place, but whether South Sudanese could vote freely, safely and without fear in a process that supports democratic transformation.

“South Sudanese have waited 15 years to cast their first ballots as citizens of an independent state,” said Yasmin Sooka, the commission’s chair. “They deserve an election that gives them a voice, not one that puts their lives at risk.” South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011.