United nations Mission in South Sudan or UNMISS welcome Transitional National Legislative Assembly unanimous decision to ratify international human rights covenants.
This week, the Assembly voted unanimously to ratify the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and their respective First Optional Protocols.
UNMISS in a statement on Friday commends the Assembly and looks forward for President’s signing of the covenants and their subsequent lodging with the UN Secretary-General.
It says it has been working closely with the Assembly and its committees to progress the signing of these covenants since 2015.
The Mission’s human rights and rule of law teams provided technical support and expertise throughout the process and facilitated workshops and public consultation on the covenants.
The covenants are among nine core UN human rights treaties and give legal force to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The ICCPR requires states to protect and respect their citizens’ civil and political rights.
The second is crucial to enabling people to live with dignity and covers important areas of public policy such as the right to work under fair and just conditions and an adequate standard of living as well as access to social security, health and education.