Ambassador James Morgan, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs - Credit: Office of President

The Minister of Foreign Affairs said he has criticized the UN Human Rights Commission over the lack of cooperation with the government in a meeting in New York.

Dr James Pitia Morgan returned on Wednesday, October 25 from New York, USA where he signed a number of UN conventions.

They include the UN Conventions Against Transnational Organized Crime, Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances as well as the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Financing.

Ambassador Morgan says he has met with the UN Human Rights Commissioner and raised the commission’s lack of cooperation with South Sudan’s government.

It’s not clear on what grounds the UN Rights Commission is not cooperating.

But his three-day work visit to the UN Human Rights Commission comes weeks after the body released a report on October 5, in Nairobi Kenya examining the current situation of South Sudanese media and civil society actors, both in and outside of the country.

The report titled “Entrenched Repression: the systemic curtailment of democratic and civic space in South Sudan” was based on the commission’s independent investigations.

Speaking upon his arrival at Juba International Airport, Ambassador Pitia says he explained to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights that, the institution didn’t cooperate with the government.

According to the Minister,  the United Nations António Guterres has directed all his departments wherever they are deployed to cooperate with the hosting country.

“I met with the High Commissioner of Human Rights in New York and I explained to them what the Human Rights Commission is doing in South Sudan,” said Amb. Morgan.

“First they didn’t cooperate with us as a government, I brought this to the office of the High Commission in New York. He told me that the security General of the United Nations António Guterres has directed all his departments wherever they are deployed to cooperate with the hosting country,” he said.