National and international human rights organizations said President Salva Kiir Mayardit should ban the Bill giving South Sudan Security Service sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects, monitor communications, conduct searches and seize property.
In a statement CRN obtained on Wednesday South Sudan Researcher at Amnesty International Elizabeth Ashamu Deng said even if legislators sign the bill, the President should not make it law and send back to be overhauled after much broader consultation with the public.
She warned that the bill empowers the National Security Service to continue violations rather than limiting its powers in line with regional and international standards.
Human Rights Watch Africa Director Daniel Bekele disclosed that the scope of the powers granted to the Security Service in the bill flies in the face of international norms and South Sudan Constitution.
He continued that it does not provide minimum safeguards to ensure that the security service would be held to international standards in using its authority.
Mr Bekele added that the Bill does not specify where the security service could detain people, warning that the omission would open the door to secret detention in unknown places.
Counsel for the international anti-torture and human rights organization Lutz Oette said experiences from other countries showed that when security services are policing powers, there is a high risk of torture and ill-treatment of people.
South Sudan’s Community Empowerment for Progress Organization Coordinator or CEPO Edmond Yakani warned that giving security extraordinary powers without adequate safeguards would lead to abuses of power and violations of human rights in the country.