{"id":45899,"date":"2023-10-20T15:49:09","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech"},"modified":"2023-10-20T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T16:24:07","slug":"rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech","title":{"rendered":"Rights advocate urges lifting of restrictions on free speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Sudan. <\/strong><\/span>A human rights advocate on Thursday called on the transitional government to lift restrictions on freedom of assembly and that of opinions as the country gears towards the first-ever elections in December 2024.<\/p>\n

Omara Joseph Wani, Acting Protection and Advocacy Manager at the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network \u2013 said civic space is paramount for free and fair elections in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cCivic space is actually a yardstick for us to determine where our country is going. Of course, if we don\u2019t have enough civic space in this country, then we don\u2019t expect that there will be a good election, and we always believe that a bad election is always a recipe for violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Wani was speaking during a media stakeholder\u2019s awareness workshop on civic space-related violations in South Sudan on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we do not want that to happen. So, people should be given enough civic space for them to operate and to campaign and to say things that they always want to say their opinion. Because if you restrict the press freedom, and assembly then we are not moving anywhere,\u201d said Wani.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, we are causing more chaos, we are inviting more violence into this country, so therefore people should be allowed to operate freely, and to assemble freely.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to international observers, since South Sudan\u2019s independence in July 2011, freedom of expression has been severely restricted.<\/p>\n

According to the UN Commission on Human Rights, South Sudan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist, with 12 journalists killed with impunity.<\/p>\n

But the government has often insisted that it grants freedom of the press in South Sudan.<\/p>\n

According to the rights activist, journalists and government critics continue to face challenges of harassment, intimidation and jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom of assembly is also an essential element, it is also a universal right that is also under the universal declaration of human rights. So, we also believe that the government must be able to abide by this international obligations and instruments that they have subscribed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Sudan<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A human rights advocate on Thursday called on the transitional government to lift restrictions on freedom of assembly and that of opinions as the country gears towards the first-ever elections in December 2024. Omara Joseph Wani, Acting Protection and Advocacy Manager at the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network \u2013 said civic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":45898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,265,233],"class_list":["post-45899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-sudan","tag-south-sudan"],"yoast_head":"\nRights advocate urges lifting of restrictions on free speech - South Sudan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A human rights advocate on Thursday called on the transitional government to lift restrictions on freedom of assembly an ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rights advocate urges lifting of restrictions on free speech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A human rights advocate on Thursday called on the transitional government to lift restrictions on freedom of assembly an ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Sudan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-20T15:49:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-20T16:24:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2023\/10\/sm_1697806399.450467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rights advocate urges lifting of restrictions on free speech\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-20T15:49:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-20T16:24:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech\"},\"wordCount\":365,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2023\/10\/sm_1697806399.450467.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Sudan\",\"South-Sudan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/rights-advocate-urges-lifting-of-restrictions-on-free-speech\",\"name\":\"Rights advocate urges lifting of restrictions on free speech - 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