A/HRC/40/CRP.1
South Africa,1490 Sierra Leone,1491 Liberia,1492 Timor-Leste1493 and Kenya.1494 In these
instances, the selection process typically involved the setting up of a selection panel
composed of representatives of various stakeholders, including victims groups, civil society,
academia or local leaders, to least the view. The public was asked to nominate candidates,
whom then were interviewed by the selection panel. The latter was responsible for providing
a short-list of candidates to the appointing authority. 1495
d)
The Compensation and Reparation Authority
Under the Agreement, the Compensation and Reparation Authority is to “provide
material and financial support to citizens whose property was destroyed by the conflict, and
to help them to rebuild their livelihoods”.1496 The Government, however, has continued to
argue, including in its interactions with the Commission, that it lacks the resources to set up
the Compensation and Reparation Fund (CRF) that the Authority is to administer, and the
utilisation of which is to be guided by legislation to be enacted by primary legislation.1497
Although the remit of the CRA is focused on addressing loss of property and
livelihoods, the need for other forms of reparation is envisaged and recognised in the ARCSS,
through the mandate of the CTRH, whose functions include responsibility for recommending
guidelines for determining the type and size of compensation and reparation for victims, 1498
and for identifying and determining victims’ right to a remedy on the basis of applications.
It is striking that while Chapter V of the R-ARCSS contains detailed guiding provisions on
the establishment of the HCSS and the CTRH, the agreement leaves the elaboration of the
workings of the Fund to a future law.1499 The decision to develop principles and guidelines
relating to reparations at the later moment gives opportunity for deeper consideration of how
best to ensure an effective framework for reparations that is coherent and integrated across
the different institutions; all of which are envisaged to play a role in reparations. This also
points to the importance of the CTRH, which could create the basis for the future reparation
policy by providing relevant recommendations.
Reparations should not be seen solely as the work of formal institutions. While the
CRA and CTRH will contribute to the fulfilment of the Government of South Sudan’s duty
to acknowledge the widespread and systematic violations of human rights and to initiate steps
aimed at repairing the material and moral damage of past abuses, there are also other nonformal institutions notably traditional justice mechanisms, that will also have an important
contribution to make within a future reparations programme.
In fact, South Sudanese law already provides for reparations―primarily in the form
of compensation―for victims of crime, including in the case of homicides, where the award
is made by the criminal court trying the crime. 1500 As discussed below, the Terrain case
awarded compensation to the victims, including with respect to the loss of earnings as an
indirect consequence of the crimes committed. 1501 Furthermore, compensation and other
forms of symbolic reparations are deeply embedded in, and indeed characterise, the
customary and traditional justice practices across all South Sudanese communities. The
1490
17 members (nine men, eight women), see Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Final Report, October
1998, volume 1.
1491 Seven members (four men, three women), see Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone, Final Report, November 2004,
volume 1, chapter 2.
1492 Nine members (five men, four women), see Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, Final Report, June 2009, volume 1.
1493 Seven members (five men, two women), see, on the selection procedure, UNTAET, Regulation No. 2001/10 on the
Establishment of a Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor, 13 July 2001, section 4.
1494 Seven members (four men, three women), see Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission Act No. 6 of 2008 of Kenya, clauses
9, 10, and first schedule.
1495 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of
non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, A/HRC/24/42, 28 August 2013, para. 56.
1496 R-ARCSS, Article 5.4.2.4.
1497 R-ARCSS, Article 5.4.2.5.
1498 R-ARCSS, Article 5.2.2.3.4.
1499 R-ARCSS, Article 5.4.2.5.
1500 Code of Criminal Procedure Act (2008), section 6(g). Under section 6(i) the court shall also recognise and enforce voluntary
reconciliatory agreements between parties.
1501 See below “Terrain Trial” section (section VIII(D)(8)).
186
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