By Taban Gabriel
King News 7 July Juba- The Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), on Wednesday, 7th August, ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention against the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and Substances.
The resolution followed a report tabled by three committees of foreign affairs and international Corporations, legislation and Justice, and National Security and public order as enshrined in the 1988 UN convention.
Members of the August House expressed no reservations during the sitting chaired by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Nathaniel Oyet Perino.
However, adherents who supported the deliberation called for domesticating the conventions to align them with national laws.
“We need to formulate laws that will strengthen the United Nations treaties so that they become our own,” Member of Parliament George Bureng stated.
“For all these laws to be implemented, we need to have them in our constitution, and we need to train our law enforcement on how to deal with them,” Member of Parliament Ruot Ruot stressed.
The debate on the trafficking of narcotics drugs was reinforced and terminated by Joseph Marona, who upheld the motion for ratification before the Speaker passed it.
The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 is one of the three major drug control treaties currently in force, according to Wikipedia.
The legislatures also deliberated and passed the UN convention against transnational organized crimes and protocols in the same sitting.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the sitting, the chairperson of the Information Committee, Oliver Mori Benjamin, said the passing of the UN conventions will accord South Sudan the right to deal with transnational Organized crimes.
Oliver Mori Benjamin, the Spokesperson of Parliament, speaking to Journalists after the session in Juba, South Sudan
“This one is related to crimes organized by States, and the people committing these crimes go to other countries to commit them, and sometimes, when they are asked to be brought back to the countries they committed the crime in, certain countries will not allow it. So, this is a very important step for South Sudan in the members of Nations to deal with transnational organized crimes,” he said
According to the UN, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000, is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime.
Other resolutions made during the sitting included summoning the Ministers under economic clusters to appear before the house on Wednesday next week.
The Ministers include the minister of Finance, Petroleum, Mining, Agriculture, Livestock and fisheries Trade and Industries, Environment and Forestry, Water Resources, Land and housing, urban development, Wildlife conservation, and Investment.
The Deputy Speaker of the TNLA said the Ministers will provide “their institutions’” response and plan to combat “the Looming hunger and dire economic situation in the Republic of South Sudan.”