Celebration of the World Press Freedom Day in South Sudan
By Malou Jalap Goljok, Nairobi, Kenya
May 3, 2016 (SSB) —- In a normal sense, speeches, singing, gestures, writings, printings, paintings, updating Facebook statuses, smiling, crying, laughing, dancing, body languages, winking, kissing, sneezing, coughing, drawings, praying , etc form part of human expression. However, under the legal context, they are part of what is known as ‘freedom of expression’. If you think I’m wrong, you have a right and freedom to correct me. What then is a freedom of expression? Freedom of expression can be defined as the liberty to express ideas or opinions, regardless of their truth or falsity and transparency as the enforceable right of access to documented facts. Speeches and thoughts are by far the greatest difference between a human being and an animal. The quality of a man’s life is determined by how free such a person is to express themselves. Freedom of expression is a key element of any democracy and a pre-requisite to any good governance and accountability.
The right to freedom of expression and opinion is a core right owned by every human being irrespective of one’s tribe, economic, political, social, or religious background and the enjoyment of which illustrates the degree of enjoyment of all human rights. South Sudan transitional Constitution provides that South Sudan is a democratic society which follows the principles of human rights, equality, freedom, democracy, social justice and the rule of law. It further states that all Government organs and its servants shall follow and adhere to the principles set by the constitution and the standards set by all international treaties to which South Sudan has ratified. Freedom of expression is the heart of any democratic society.
The constitution inter-alia recognizes the importance and a need for a person to express themselves freely. Article 24(1) of the constitution rightly declares that “Every citizen shall have the right to the freedom of expression, reception and dissemination of information, publication, and access to the press without prejudice to public order, safety or morals as prescribed by law”. This then begs the questions; why are South Sudanese people being arrested or even killed whenever they speak up about how their country should be run? Has the judiciary totally failed to uphold rule of law? Does the government know this right is so important that a country cannot effectively run without it?
Yes “we are still a young nation” trying to catch up with rest of the world, but will we catch up if we are not free to telling each other we are heading to the wrong or the right direction? If no then why violating freedom of expression? Relax!, these are some of the questions often coming to my mind, you don’t have to attempt answering them for I trust you have no answers to them unless you’re the government or in the government. Subsection two (2) of the same article 24 further states that “All levels of government shall guarantee the freedom of the press and other media as shall be regulated by law in a democratic society”. The question is, are our media free to collect and report news especially corruption cases across the Country? Well, I’m not aware of any and if there is, kindly educate me.
Our government and any right mind fellow South Sudanese should therefore know that freedom of expression is so vital, a freedom that derailing it would derail not just the quality but sadly also the dignity of a human being. Lack of this right in any society enslaves the potential in a person and for slavery tolerates no freedom of the press, of speech, of opinion and turns a human being into more than an animal that can “dumb and silent be led to a slaughter house” so to speak. Article 1(5) of the constitution further states that “South Sudan is founded on justice, equality, respect for human dignity and advancement of human rights and fundamental freedoms” certainly the said freedoms include our subject, that is the freedom of expression. It was once stated that “only despots fear free tongues, open mind and diverse opinions”. The significance of freedom of expression in any country which claims to be a democratic society like South Sudan cannot be overstated. Therefore, the role this freedom plays in calling for accountability and putting a government on check cannot be gainsaid.
You will agree with me that respect for freedom of expression helps in promoting public participation and enabling create and conceive ideas to be disseminated from place to place thus, enabling individual’s growth and development. Hence, it is practically impossible to measure the growth of democracy and the respect of constitutionalism and the rule of law without promotion of this right. We South Sudanese, or we the tallest people in Africa or we the most generous people or we the strongest hearted people or we the most beautiful people or we the laziest people or we the proudest people demand that the same our leaders who won our independence to make us free from modern slavery must allow us to develop our faculties while accommodating and respecting our liberal and constructive ideas. For without Citizenry/public participation in the governance of our country would set path to failure.
If thus our government believes that we South Sudanese like any other human beings are rational animals then it is inconceivable that what is cognitively formulated should remain in our minds without being shared. Freedom of expression as one of the human rights is inherent in all of us meaning, it’s a right we own by the virtue that we are human beings. This is a right that’s not given by the state, but rather inborn and there the state has not option, but to recognize and protect it for it’s an international right protected by various international conventions some of which South Sudan is a party to.
Our bill of rights in Article 9 (3) of the transitional constitution stipulates that “All rights and freedoms enshrined in international human rights treaties, covenants and instruments ratified or acceded to by the Republic of South Sudan shall be an integral part of this Bill”. It is then my believe that as citizens of a country aspiring to be a democratic country, we should be allowed to think as we will and to speak as we think for these are important indispensables to the discovery and spread of our political truth. Erasmus once said “In a free state, tongues too should be free”. Another advantage of freedom of expression is that it promotes well-functioning of the constitutional democratic process and distinguishes liberal from authoritarian societies.
A country’s level of democracy and development is not only so much in the ability of people to vote freely, but also in the ability for people to easily express themselves without fear of being persecuted or rebuked. Only through respecting of this core freedom will people raise their voices against a rogue government and keep their government in check and this is what separates a human being from an animal. By freely expressing our ideas in an understanding environment, we may play an active role in how our elected government is run.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that freedom of expression is comprised of both dissenting and favouring ideas and opinions. This means that it is a two-sided right which carries not only ideas favourably received or regarded as inoffensive, but also those ideas that offend shock or disturb. This right is not absolute, it should be used responsibly and not to be used for incitement to violence; hate speech or advocacy of hatred that constitutes ethnic incitement or propaganda of war, vilification of others or incitement to cause harm.
The author, Malou Jalap Goljok, is a fourth year Law Student at The Catholic University of Eastern Africa – CUEA, in Kenya
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