Kiir signs treaties against terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational crime

Author: Chany Ninrew | Published: 8 minutes ago

President Kiir signs three international treaties into law. (Photo: President’s Office).

President Salva Kiir approved three international treaties against illicit drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and terrorist financing.

The United Nations treaties include the 1999 International Conventions for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. These treaties promote international cooperation in devising and adopting effective measures to prevent the financing of terrorism.

The other is the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, adopted in 1988.

The purpose of this Convention is to control the abuse of certain psychotropic substances, such as central nervous system stimulants, hypnotics, tranquilizers and hallucinogens, which have caused public health and social problems in South Sudan.

The third instrument is the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its protocols, which assist in the fight against transnational organised crime.

The treaty obliges UN member states to criminalise such conduct and also creates an international legal framework for cooperation between states on prevention, financing and ensuring the prosecution and punishment of offenders wherever they may be.

It also imposes a legal obligation on states to prosecute or expel anyone within their jurisdiction who commits, attempts to commit, participates as a collaborator, organizes or directs others to commit a crime.

It provides for cooperation and information exchange between states so that appropriate measures can be taken. It also allows states to request extradition through a legal process, allowing them to prosecute offenders outside their jurisdiction.

The Parliament of South Sudan ratified the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and their protocols on 7 August 2024.

The treaties were submitted on January 1, 2019 by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Justice Ruben Madol Arol.^st July 2024.