Weekly Review - South Sudan’s Permanent Constitution-Making Process Negotiations: The Influence of International Law and

The CMPA sets out a process for drafting and adopting South Sudan’s first permanent constitution: the outcome of negotiations between the Parties and Stakeholders to the 2014-18 IGAD-led peace process, including the Government of South Sudan, armed opposition groups, 1 The author is grateful to Dr. [...] In particular, these include the need for broad public participation to ensure the new constitution’s legitimacy; and the need to ensure the agreement and support of political elites for the new constitution’s effectiveness, both in relation to governance and peace. [...] In balancing these objectives, the CMPA provides that the new constitution is to be drafted based on the results of public consultations and adopted by a (selected) National Constitutional Conference (NCC) “with representation from all sectors of South Sudanese society”.3 However, the Act provides that the Parties and Stakeholders to the peace process will submit nominations for delegates to the N. [...] Deciding who is to participate: guaranteed 35% representation of women The CMPA provides that 35% of members of the R-NCRC, CDC and NCC Preparatory Sub-Committee shall be women (this quota is not specifically mentioned in relation to the NCC).22 These specific requirements build on a general 35% quota for the participation of women in government set out in the Revitalized Agreement on the Resoluti. [...] R- ARCSS, for example, provides that the constitution making “shall be led and owned by the people of South Sudan.”27, while the 2011 Transitional Constitution explicitly recognizes the right of political participation, and the obligation to promote the participation of women in public life.28 However, these instruments were themselves at least partially the product of international influence: int.