South Sudan signs the 1951 Refugee Convention | WPN World People News

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes South Sudan’s accession to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, on October 1st. President Salva Kiir signed the accession instrument in Juba on Friday (September 28) after it was ratified by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly.

A mother holds her newborn child at the Bunj hospital, Maban refugee camp, South Sudan during a visit by HRH Sarah Zeid of Jordan.

South Sudan has become 143rd country to accede to both the 1951 Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.

The country hosts some 300,000 refugees, despite all the challenges of civil war that has displaced a large number of its own population.

“This is a milestone for the world’s youngest nation as South Sudan commits to assuming more responsibility to protect refugees and asylum-seekers in the country,” said Valentin Tapsoba, Director of UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for Africa.

In 2016 the country also became a party to the 1969 Organisation of African Union Convention on Refugees, a regional instrument governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in the African continent.

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees