lawyer's Passport and the travel ban passed on him by the Director General of
Nationality, Passport & Immigration, contrary to Section 12 (2) and Section 16 (a) of
the South Sudan Passport & Immigration Act, 2011, constitute a violation of Article
27 of the Constitution of South Sudan and violation of Article 12(1) and 12(2) of the
African Charter.
216.
The Commission is cognizant that the AU Kampala Convention classifies "persons
or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes
or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the
effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human
rights or natural or human- made disasters, and who have not crossed an
internationally recognized State border'<', as internally displaced. The Convention
obligates States to, among other things, "refrain from, prohibit.and prevent arbitrary
displacement of populations and prevent political, .social, cultural and economic
exclusion and marginalization, that are likely to cause displacement of populations
or persons by virtue of their social identity, religion or political opinion.//84
217.
In this regard, the Commission reminiscences that in,MalawiAfrican
Association,
Amnesty International, Ms Sarr Diop, Union interafricaine des droits de l'Homme
and RADDHO, Collectif des veuves et ayants- Droit, Association .mauritanienne
des droits de l'Homme v Mauritania», it found that the eviction of Black
Mauritanians from their houses and depriving them of their Mauritanian citizenship
was a violation of Article 12(1).
218.
The Commission also bears in mind that it had interpreted the right to movement as
including a right to 'travel to, reside ip, and/ or v\rork in, any part of the State the
citizen wishes, without interference [fom the State'86. In Sir Dawda K. [auiara v
Gambiat", it held that restricting the travel outside the Gambia of former
government officials and parliamentarians violated their right to freedom of
movement under Articles 12(1) and (2) of the African Charter. Similarly, in
Movement burkinabe des droits de l'Homme et des peuples v Burkina Fas088, the
Commission found that preventing the secretary general of a political party in
Burkina Faso from leaving his country after publishing a statement on the situation
in the country, W:hichdid not constitute a threat to public security or morality, was a
violation of Article iz !Purfhermore, in Law Offices of Ghazi Suleiman v Sudani", it
held that restricting an individual's freedom of movement not only impact that
particular person but may seriously discourage others from contributing to
promoting and protecting human rights.
83 African
Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance ofInternally Displ
mpala
Convention), Article l(k)
<to \
84 African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displjced
ers~.ri:'·Afn
.aJ;K _ ala
Convention), Article 3(la and b)
',;i
~...)~./
~ ~,
85 Communication
Nos. 54/91, 61/91, 98/93,164/97 it 196/97 and 210/98 (2000), ~a'
i AfrA£,an,AsspcJAti....land
Others v. Mauritania, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, para l26 -':"'s
/ ,?Q
..
86 See Communication
279/ 03- 296/ OS,
'\
,;:,)\
f,-"""',.i
Evictions (COHRE) v Sudan, 27 May 2009, para 187.
' "'~ '" 1:,.( r' ' ," <'\ /~."
87 Communication
147/95- 149/96, Sir Dawda K. Jawara v Gambia (The), para 70.
~~,:,:,:=~?'
88 Communication 204/97, Movement burkinabe des droits de I'Homme et des peuples v Burkina Faso,
para 47
89 Communication 228/ 99, Law Offices of Ghazi Suleiman v Sudan, 29 May 2003, para 65.
l
..
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77lh
Ordinary Session of the ACHPR
40