116 Pledges 2011 - Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons SOUTH SUDAN EXCERPTS FROM NATIONAL STATEMENT We are concerned about the difficulties that refugees face, and conscious that these problems may escalate further due to the increasing number of large-scale movements of population in surrounding countries. Therefore, the Government of South Sudan is dedicated to enacting, by the end of this year, its Refugee Bill that will deal with the following: [1] to provide for reception into South Sudan of asylum-seekers; [2] to regulate applications for recognition of refugee status; and [3] to provide rights and obligations flowing from the status. On the adoption of the Refugee Bill, we shall nominate three Commissioners for Refugees who shall be deployed to the most sensitive States of the country where refugee influx is highest, namely Upper Nile, Unity, and Western Equatoria States. Pledges relating to statelessness The Republic of South Sudan, as the world’s newest independent country, is facing multifaceted priorities. However, among all the issues demanding the attention of the Government, there is no greater priority than to prevent statelessness, since citizenship is a fundamental right for everybody. Acknowledging the importance of developing a comprehensive strategy to prevent and address statelessness in the country, the Government of South Sudan has already enacted a National Bill that entered into force on July 07, 2011, that should protect people from statelessness. The importance of documentation demonstrating citizenship is also key, both in terms of basic human rights, but also with regards to feelings of inclusion, maintaining allegiance to the nation and preserving stability and the rule of law. In its efforts to elaborate and implement a strong human rights-oriented nationality legislation, the Government of South Sudan is determined to comply with the best practices in that matter, and aspires to accede and ratify, in the near future, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Pledges in other areas The Republic of South Sudan is recovering from a 22-year devastating civil war, during which over 2.5 million South Sudanese perished, and over 4 million were displaced, making the plague of internal displacement one of the most critical issues to address. To date, there is only one binding legal instrument in the world which promotes and strengthens regional and national measures to prevent or mitigate, prohibit and eliminate root causes of internal displacement, as well as to provide for durable solutions.