[NEW] Today, @amnesty has launched 'THESE WALLS HAVE EARS": THE CHILLING EFFECT OF SURVEILLANCE IN SOUTH SUDAN', which finds the National Security Service using abusive surveillance to terrorize activists leading to a climate of intense fear. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/south-sudan-abusive-surveillance-by-national-security-service-climate-of-fear/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThese%20Walls%20Have%20Ears%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%93,phone%20calls%20without%20adequate%20legal

Amnesty discovered documents that show an Israeli company, Verint Systems Ltd., supplied communications interception technology to the South Sudanese government at least between 2015 – 2017, despite the high risk that the equipment could contribute to human rights violations.

The NSS can likely only conduct communications surveillance with the collaboration of telecommunication service providers. A former employee of Vivacell told us that the NSS has direct access to all telecommunication service providers in the country through technology...

..procured in Israel. The NSS also deploys agents throughout South Sudan and neighbouring countries, penetrating all levels of society and daily life. NSS approval is required to hold public events, suffocating genuine dialogue.

https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR6535772021ENGLISH.pdf

Unchecked and unlawful surveillance by the NSS is having a chilling effect on civil society and peaceful activism. The threat of surveillance is a weapon in itself - government critics and human rights activists told us they live in constant fear.

Amnesty International is calling on the South Sudanese government to stop the use of surveillance until a proper human rights regulatory framework is in place and to urgently conduct independent investigations into cases of unlawful surveillance and other human rights violations.