President Kiir signs four international conventions to law. (Photo: Office of the President).

South Sudan has become a party to four international covenants after President Salva Kiir acceded to the human rights laws on Friday.

According to a press statement from his office, Kiir signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) sets out the fundamental human rights of people with disability.

The purpose is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

On the other hand, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aims to ensure the protection of civil and political rights including freedom from discrimination, the right to equality between men and women, the right to life, freedom from torture, and freedom from slavery.

Others are the right to liberty and security of person, the right to be treated with humanity in detention, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, and freedom of association among others.

The president has also signed the Protocol to The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

The Maputo Protocol, which has now been ratified by 50 countries, is founded with the mission to ensure that the rights of girls and women are prioritized by policy makers on the African continent.