A/HRC/40/CRP.1 Furthermore, the Commission recalls that parties to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel are required to criminalize attacks on United Nations and associated personnel and official premises. 133 While South Sudan is not a party to the Convention, the Status of Forces Agreement signed by South Sudan and the United Nations provides that the Government will ensure the Convention is applied and that attacks on the personnel or premises of UNMISS are established as crimes in national law and punished with appropriate penalties.134 The Convention provides that State Parties may establish jurisdiction over such crimes where their nationals were the victims.135 Accordingly, the States whose nationals have been attacked in South Sudan in this context can pursue criminal cases against the perpetrators if they are parties to the Convention. In addition, the Convention provides that: The State Party in whose territory the alleged offender is present shall, if it does not extradite that person, submit, without exception whatsoever and without undue delay, the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution, through proceedings in accordance with the law of that State. Those authorities shall take their decision in the same manner as in the case of an ordinary offence of a grave nature under the law of that State. 136 The international case-law that has dealt with the crime of attacks on peace-keepers has considered under what conditions peacekeepers continue to be civilians and protected from attack even when acting in self-defence. The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone noted “that it is settled law that peacekeepers – like civilians – are entitled to use force in self-defence; such use does not constitute taking a direct part in hostilities.”137 A recently published scholarly Manual explains: Acting in lawful self-defence does not constitute a hostile act or automatically result in becoming party to an armed conflict under IHL. Lawful self-defence includes protection of mission personnel and/or civilians from imminent physical danger and extends to proportionate action to counter attempts to disarm or otherwise incapacitate mission personnel or seize vital installations or equipment. 138 5. Repression of Freedom of Expression and the Press The civic space available to journalists, human rights activists and civil society to inform, debate, and dissent has continued to shrink in South Sudan. Citizens face legal, administrative and security deterrents to political participation and discussion which is resulting in growing self-censorship at a time when more, not less, engagement is needed if the peace agreement is to succeed. One activist the Commission spoke to mourned the absence of freedom of expression stating: “we can’t protest in the streets because there is no tear gas but only live bullets.”139 The World Press Freedom Index for 2018 compiled by Reporters Without Borders ranked South Sudan as 144th out of 180 countries.140 In February 2018, the UNMISS Human Rights Division issued a report documenting violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression since July 2016.141 It verified 60 instances of violations of the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression involving 102 victims (85 men and 17 women). This included the killing of at least two individuals, the arbitrary arrest of 58 people (53 men and five women); 133 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, Article 9. The Status Of Forces Agreement Between The United Nations And The Government Of The Republic Of South Sudan Concerning The United Nations Mission In South Sudan (“SOFA”) (2011), Article 48. 135 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, Article 10(2)(b). 136 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, Article 14. 137 Special Court for Sierra Leone, Prosecutor v Sesay et al., Appeal Judgement, Case No. SCSL-04-15-A, 29 October 2009, para. 531. 138 T. D. Gill, D. Fleck, W. B. Boothby, and A. Vanheusden, (eds), Leuven Manual on the International Law Applicable to Peace Operations, (Cambridge: CUP, 2017) at 324. See further on the Convention E.T. Bloom, ‘Protecting Peacekeepers: The Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel’, vol. 89 AJIL (1995) 621-31. 139 Confidential Meeting, 20 August 2018. 140 Reporters Without Borders, https://rsf.org/en/south-sudan, last accessed 21 November 2018. This ranking is based on a number of criteria including pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency and the quality of infrastructure supporting the production of news and information. 141 UNMISS/OHCHR, Report on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression in South Sudan since the July 2016 Crisis, February 2018. 134 25