South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The South Sudan Law Commission in collaboration with the Rule of Law Division of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday started reviewing the 2008 code of criminal procedure.
Changkuoth Beal Diaw, the Acting Chairperson for South Sudan Law Review Commission, said the review of the 2008 code of criminal procedure provides opportunity to address challenges facing the justice system.
“This is another opportunity for South Sudan Law Commission to address challenges and make reforms to ensure laws are responsive to the needs of the people, and in conformity with international obligations and practices,” said Diaw during the one -day consultative workshop held at Regency Hotel in Juba.
Diaw said review of the code of criminal procedure will ease the work of the courts in discharging justice on time, thus addressing the rampant case backlog.
“We have emerging new crimes, these crimes need to be included in the current criminal procedure,” he said.
Diaw revealed that there are different types of crimes including money laundering and crimes related to money transfer, which need to be incorporated in the code of criminal procedure before it is tabled before the ministry of justice, cabinet and parliament for enactment.
Samuel Wambugu, the Senior Rule of Law Officer for UNMISS, said they are committed to the review of the 2008 code of criminal procedure in order to have better laws that may ease access to justice.
“The law review process is quite revolving, it is encouraging to see how the commission is soliciting public views from the experts,” he said.
“Most of the legislation was passed before South Sudan became independent, and it is important to be able to bring these laws to address emerging issues and needs of South Sudanese people and especially within the criminal justice,” said Wambugu.
Catherine Waliaula, the Governance Advisor for the UNDP, welcomed the law review process; saying will improve access to justice and also help decongest prisons.
The consultative workshop undertaken by South Sudan Law Commission aims to identify areas requiring amendments, reforms to ensure that the law is consistent with regional and international instruments and best practices.
