Foreign humanitarian staff ordered to acquire work permits
By Staff Writer
Foreign workers with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies in South Sudan have ordered to pay for work permits.
Peter Mayen Majongdit, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management issued the ministerial order in Juba on Friday.
“I Peter Mayen Majongdit, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Republic of South Sudan do hereby issue this Ministerial order No. 001/2022 and the purpose of this order is as follows, All the Expatriates, International Staff working for National and International Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), United Nations (UN) Agencies are directed to have valid work permit issued by the National Ministry of Labour and Industrial Development of the Republic of South Sudan,” read the order.
The ministerial order comes into effect from April 28, 2022.
The government in March 2017, hiked work permit fees for foreign workers in the country, but later on revoked the decision after criticism from humanitarian agencies who feared it would affect humanitarian operations.
Mayen also added foreigners must possess certificate of good conduct from their country of origin to be verified by the South Sudan security agencies.
In addition, he said that academic transcripts of foreign workers must be approved by the ministry of higher education of South Sudan.
“All national and international non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies must meet the above mentioned three criteria, all relevant institutions of government are advised to implement this order,” said Mayen.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, released recently warned that 7.74 million people, or 62.7 percent of the population, across the country will face a crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity during the lean season between April and July.
It said food insecurity is due to climatic shocks such as floods and droughts, conflict, economic downturn, and displacement.
