Juba, South Sudan: South Sudan said on Sunday that it has expelled a UN official who was carrying out a probe on the human rights situation in the fledgling state, accusing her of producing “unjustified” reports.
“It’s the first person on human rights to be [declared] persona non grata,” government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said.
The UN official has been “reporting on human rights issues that she could not verify and has been publishing without justifications. This is unethical,” the spokesman said.
The UN’s peacekeeping mission in South Sudan confirmed the expulsion.
“The order is in breach of the legal obligations of the government of the Republic of South Sudan under the Charter of the United Nations,” Hilde Johnson, special representative of the UN to the country which gained independence in July 2011, said.
She said she has sought explanations from Juba.
“Human rights monitoring, investigation and reporting and building capacity, is a core element of the mandate of UNMISS which must be protected,” Johnson said.
