The following attachments of the original message were not forwarded because of size restrictions: RVI - My Mother Will Not Come to Juba - Press Release - 14 June 2013.pdf
---------- Sent from my Nokia Phone ------Original message------ From: <[email protected]> To: "Elisabeth Janaina" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, June 14, 2013 6:10:24 PM GMT+0300 Subject: My Mother Will Not Come to Juba: South Sudanese Debate the Constitution PRESS RELEASE 17 June 2013 My Mother Will Not Come to Juba: South Sudanese Debate the Constitution RECEPTION AND PRESS CONFERENCE IN JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN 17/6/2013 A reception and press conference will be held at the French Institute (University of Juba main campus) at 6 PM on Monday 17 June to mark the publication of My Mother Will Not Come To Juba: South Sudanese debate the constitution. The publication is a record of three evenings of discussion at the University of Juba in March 2013 which were organised by the Rift Valley Institute and the Centre for Peace and Development Studies. The reception will be held with the participation of contributors to the book, and with Leben Moro of the University of Juba and John Ryle, Director of the Rift Valley Institute. It is open to the public. THE CONTRIBUTORS Akolda Ma’an Tier, Ambrose Riiny Thiik, Ben Lou Poggo, David Deng, Gabriel Shadar, Henry Swaka, Jacob Akol, Joanna Oyediran, Jok Madut Jok, Marcia Dawes, Merekaje Lorna, and Paleki Matthew Obur. THE LECTURES In South Sudan delays in the making of the national constitution have led to growing public concern. The current challenges of constitution-making are the subject of My Mother Will Not Come to Juba, a publication based on public lectures and discussions at the University of Juba in March 2013. As one participant put it: “My mother will not come to Juba. She is waiting where she is. But she is waiting for you.” The lectures examined the reasons for the delay, the issues at stake in the drafting of the constitution and the question of public participation in the constitution-making process. THE DISCUSSION A dozen South Sudanese intellectuals, including the Chair of the Constitutional Review Commission, discussed these topics at the University with an audience of students, activists and political leaders. The discussions included the composition of the National Constitutional Review Commission, the rights of women and people with disabilities, free speech, ethnicity, land tenure, and term limits for political office. For many, it was their first opportunity to engage in dialogue with those involved in the constitution-making process. QUOTES FROM THE BOOK "The idea of writing a constitution with the assistance of civil society is a new way of making a constitution. In the past it was simply the responsibility of political parties. But in South Sudan everybody considers himself equal to a political party. That is the problem" - Akolda Tier “The Commission is elite-driven. Ordinary citizens don’t feature.” – Zacharia Diing “Poor representation of women on the Commission means gender-related issues are pushed aside.” – Paleki Matthew Obur “Diversity need not divide a country. Involving the grassroots is more likely to prevent war.” – Jacob Akol “We have formally recognized customary land tenure. But when ethnicity determines rights, what are the risks?” – David Deng THE EVENT The event was the third in an annual series of lectures at Juba University, a collaboration between the Rift Valley Institute and the Centre for Peace and Development Studies, supported by the Danish Institute for International Studies, with the Gurtong Peace Trust, the Sudd Institute and the South Sudan Law Society. THE BOOK My Mother Will Not Come to Juba will be available for free download from the RVI website (www.riftvalley.net) from 17 June. Print copies can be ordered from Amazon.com. Podcasts are available on www.riftvalley.net. THE RIFT VALLEY INSTITUTE The Rift Valley Institute is an independent organisation working in Eastern and Central Africa to advance knowledge of the region and bring understanding of local realities to bear on development. CONTACTS RVI Juba Daniel Watkins: [email protected] RVI London Fergus Nicoll: [email protected] FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO MY MOTHER WILL NOT COME TO JUBA South Sudan achieved independence on 9 July 2011. Almost two years later it still lacks a permanent constitution. The country is governed according to a Transitional Constitution, which was ratified by the Legislative Assembly on the eve of independence, on 7 July 2011. This document is based on the Interim National Constitution (INC) of Southern Sudan, adopted in 2005 in the framework of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the agreement that ended the north-south civil war and paved the way for South Sudan’s independence. A National Constitutional Review Commission was established in January 2012, six months after independence. In 2013 it was granted a further year’s extension of its mandate. Concern has been growing among South Sudanese regarding the absence of public debate on central questions of the future Constitution. In early 2013 Luka Biong Deng, a member of the drafting committee of the 2005 Interim Constitution, wrote ‘What we want to achieve with this constitutional review process is to lay down a foundation that will enable…our state and nation not to fail.’ In February 2013 a report by Zacharia Diing Akol for the Juba-based Sudd Institute stated: ‘One year after the decree issued by the President of the Republic of South Sudan effectively forming the National Constitution Review Commission, little is known about progress... The process seems to be considered as the reserve of an exclusive select few… The public has…not participated in the making of the supreme law of the country.’ In March 2013, in response to these concerns, the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) and the Centre for Peace and Development Studies (CPRDS) organised three evenings of public lectures and discussions at the University of Juba. The talks focused on key aspects of the constitution-making process. They were the third in an annual series of lectures on topics of national interest organized by the RVI at Juba University. The 2013 lectures featured leading public figures, including the Chair of the Constitutional Review Commission, government ministers, legal experts, civil society activists and representatives of women’s groups. The presentations covered the composition of the Review Commission, the role of civil society, freedom of speech, the role of ethnicity, the rights of women and disabled persons, the judicial system, systems of land tenure, term limits on political office and the question of popular participation in the consultative process. Regarding popular participation, one discussant from the floor remarked: ‘My mother will not come to Juba; she is waiting where she is—but she is waiting for you.’ The lectures and discussions were vigorous. They attracted a substantial attendance from students, activists, political leaders and members of the international community. For many present, it was their first opportunity to engage in dialogue with those involved in the constitution-making process. As Jok Madut Jok, the Chair of the first evening’s session, remarked, the size of the audience was a sign of the high level of public interest. ‘South Sudan,’ he said, ‘is confronted by a number of very daunting challenges, from security to national unity to political unity to nation building… they are all rooted in this particular subject: constitution making.’ The present publication includes presentations from all three evenings at Juba University, with highlights from the discussions that followed. My Mother Will Not Come to Juba will be available for free download from www.riftvalley.net on 17 June. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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