Another step in the establishment of South Sudan's Truth Commission
- Ella Cowell
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
On 23 January, a special Selection Panel made up of representatives of different sectors of society, including youth, women's groups, religious leaders and victims' advocates, announced that it had completed its work in selecting four South Sudanese Commissioners from over 120 applicants. Along with three non-South Sudanese Commissioners, who are currently being selected by the African Union, in collaboration with the United Nations, their role will be to inquire into all aspects of human rights violations and abuses, breaches of the rule of law and excessive abuse of power in South Sudan in accordance with the CTRH Act (2024).
The names of the four individuals selected are currently unknown. The Panel's recommendations have been submitted to the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, and they must now pass through a vetting process undertaken by the Council of Ministers, Parliament and the Presidency.
Nevertheless, this marks a new step in the Transitional Justice process in South Sudan, and a signal of progress despite continuing political fragility and increasing violence.
Technical support for the Selection Panel’s work
In November 2025, Rights for Peace (RfP) provided technical support to the Selection Panel in response to their request for support. RfP worked with the Global Survivors’ Fund (GSF) to develop a number of tools to aid the Panel in carrying out its shortlist and interviewing of candidates. These included:
Shortlisting criteria and matrix;
Vetting guidelines, suggesting a procedure that the Selection Panel could follow in order to “carry out vetting and background checks of the nominees” as required by Article 10(2)(c) of the CTRH Act. Additional annex documents were created for final candidates to sign upon selection to confirm their legitimacy, such as a form of self-declaration and a statement of consent to background checks;
Sample interview questions, with a scoring matrix, including contributions from ten survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV).
Alongside this, the Director and Advocacy Coordinator of RfP, alongside the GSF Project Coordinator, delivered a technical training for the Panel members on the various tools at the Ministry of Justice.
Article 10(2)(f) of the CTRH Act required the interviews of shortlisted candidates to be “open to the media and public”. Amid financial challenges, public interviews did not take place, though RfP facilitated the video recording of the interview process for five days. The transparency and publicity of the selection process is a key feature of the CTRH Act (2024), and was designed to publicise and inspire public confidence in the process, which as yet is not sufficiently known by the public.
Amongst measures to promote publicity of the transitional justice process, RfP is curating a three-month series of radio episodes with UN Radio Miraya FM. The interactive sessions, which include dial-in from the public are on Tuesdays from 5-6pm until mid April. Tune in to hear the programmes online!
For more information about the process download the fact-sheets:
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