Expert proposes retributive justice for South Sudan
By Kitab Unango
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Human Rights Division on Friday proposed retributive justice for the country in order to curb intermittent communal violence.
Isaac Lappia, Team Leader of UNMISS human rights division, said retributive justice minimizes violence or attacks among communities.
“Let’s make sure that we work for retributive justice so that anybody who thinks of committing crimes, especially crimes that will override the law will think twice before committing the crime,” Lappia said in Juba.
He was speaking during the discussion forum on Chapter Five of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
Retributive justice is a system of criminal justice based on the punishment of offenders rather than on rehabilitation.
Chapter five calls for the establishment of transitional justice, and accountability mechanisms, including reparations.
Lappia said the ongoing constitution- making process should address loopholes within the laws.
“There’s no way people can commit gross crimes and go away without punishment or at least without being questioned. It means that there’s nothing that deter people from committing crimes and when this happens, the nation will all the time be in chaos,” he said.
South Sudan is seeking recovery from years of conflict since outbreak in December 2013.
The country continues to experience intermittent communal violence that has killed hundreds of thousands outside the main political conflict which ended with the signing of the 2018 revitalized peace deal.
