Africa

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June 13, 2018 (JUBA) - The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), working jointly with the Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Immigration (DNPI) of South Sudan and Forcier Consulting launched on Wednesday a study on statelessness in the war-torn nation.

South Sudanese queue to be registered in Sudan in March 2015 (Photo courtesy of the UNHCR)

The study, commissioned by UNHCR in cooperation with DNPI and Forcier Consulting in 2017, explains main triggers behind the statelessness in South Sudan, outlines categories of people who are at risk of statelessness, identifies capacity and legal gaps that exist at central and local level and offers concrete recommendations to all concerned stakeholders on how to address the problem.

Among major risks of statelessness in South Sudan, the Study particularly emphasizes state succession, procedural gaps and divergent application of provisions in the Nationality Law for some specific ethnic and minority groups, the lack of a civil registration system, underfunded state institutions as well as ongoing conflict.

“Some categories of population in South Sudan are particularly at risk of statelessness. While many vulnerable and low-income individuals face difficulties in acquiring nationality certificates due to costs and procedures throughout the application process, challenges to obtain a nationality certificate also relate to ethnicity,” partly says the study.

It adds, “Certain communities, such as nomadic pastoralist groups, cannot access nationality certification procedure as they are not considered to be South Sudanese which effectively renders them stateless”.

UNHCR's activities relating to prevention of statelessness in South Sudan have focused so far on training and capacity-building for DNPI, support to vulnerable groups in the procedure of age assessment and acquisition of nationality and advocating for improved legal framework to address statelessness in the country.

“Since 2012, UNHCR has assisted some 12,000 persons at risk of statelessness to acquire South Sudanese national certificates. In addition, over 300 officers from the Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Immigration participated in various trainings organized in 2017 by the UN Refugee Agency,” said Johann Siffointe, UNHCR Representative for South Sudan.

To address the risks of statelessness in South Sudan, UNHCR will continue to advocate with the State and national authorities of South Sudan for ratification of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Stateless. UNHCR will continue to provide assistance to the Ministry of Interior and DNPI in necessary legislative reform based on the findings and recommendations of the Study.

“While no reliable data on the number of persons at risk of statelessness in the country is available, in 2018, UNHCR aims to assist some 4,000 persons in acquiring nationality certificates, giving priority to the most vulnerable persons, including internally displaced persons, South Sudanese refugee returnees, ethnic minorities, children and adolescents in educational institutions”, the UNHCR Representative emphasized.

On November 4, 2014 UNHCR launched #IBelong campaign to end statelessness by 2024, featuring a Global Action Plan for 2014-2024 that has the following objectives: resolve existing major situations of statelessness; prevent new cases of statelessness from emerging; and better identify and protect stateless populations.

(ST)

June 14, 2018 (NAIROBI) - The United States has urged the Kenya government to investigate properties and assets owned South Sudanese officials who are benefitting from the country's war.

US Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Ms Sigal Mandelker (Daily Monitor)

The US Treasury's under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Sigal Mandelker, said well-placed South Sudanese, have continued to invest illicit money in Kenya's real estate market.

"I wanna be very clear, those who profit from human rights violations and corruption, preying on the poor and innocent and mothers and children, must heed our warning," she told reporters on Wednesday.

"We will impose consequences, we will cut off your access to the US financial system and we will work with our partners in this region and elsewhere to do the same," added the official who earlier visited Uganda and will later head to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In September 2016, The Sentry, a US-based investigative group, accused South Sudanese leaders of transferring millions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth outside the country during a civil war that left nearly half the population homeless or in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

Its report accused President Salva Kiir and some of his top associates, along with former vice-president Riek Machar, as having invested millions of dollars in real estate in Kenya, Uganda as well as Australia.

The senior US official told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya that she met with top officials in Kenya's government and the banking sector to urge them to watch out for money laundering from South Sudan.

I asked them to ban South Sudanese who have been on a US black list since 2015 and to freeze their bank accounts and seize their properties, observed Mandelke.

"Those who profit on of the backs of individuals who are devastated by human rights abuses will no longer have access to the international financial system because we will block that access, kick them out and we will work together to eliminate such despicable profiteering,” she stressed.

The Treasury under-secretary urged officials in Nairobi and Kampala to close loopholes that allow transfer of illicit funds from South Sudan.

John Prendergast, a co-founder of The Sentry said Tuesday that new financial pressures would disrupt the lifestyle of any South Sudanese officials found to have engaged in corruption, as well as that of their families, to bend these officials' personal incentives toward peace and an end to the devastating war.

“We hope Under Secretary Mandelker's engagement with Kenyan authorities and banks will spark official inquiries into real estate purchased by South Sudanese officials potentially to hide unexplained wealth obtained in the context of war,” said Prendergast.

“Investigating, and if appropriate, seizing these homes would provide tremendous leverage for the peace process, and would be a critical step toward accountability for the systematic looting and mass atrocities committed since the country's independence in 2011,” he added.

The Sentry urged US law enforcement bodies to launch independent investigations to determine if properties in Kenya and Uganda were bought in US dollars with the proceeds of corruption

(ST)