[JURIST] Several South Sudanese organizations co-authored a letter [text] to the African Union Commission (AUC) [official website] Tuesday concerning the creation of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. The letter asked Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AUC, to draft a statute ensuring that the court is enacted through appropriate channels and also to establish a method to preserve evidence. The letter asked that the AUC gather input from experts in the field as a method to determine jurisdiction, witness protection programs, and public outreach among other things. The letter was signed by 34 organizations.

Earlier this year Human Rights Watch urged [JURIST report] the African Union to establish a hybrid court to prosecute members of the South Sudan government for war crimes committed in the Western Equatoria region. HRW said that there is evidence that killings, rapes and enforced disappearances have been committed against civilians in the region and that some of the targeting may have been ethnically motivated in a counterinsurgency operation against rebel forces.