South Sudan’s troubles as a young country have been in plain sight for a decade now. But new findings say frequent human rights violations have weakened its institutions to the brink of state collapse.
The details are contained in a UN Commission on Human Rights report on South Sudan which has listed unchecked mass violence and entrenched repression in South Sudan as immediate threats to the prospects of durable peace.
The country is in the middle of an election plan; whose tentative schedule is for December this year. But officials had already sounded alarm on lack of funds. Institutional weaknesses will add to the challenge to a country struggling to hold its first ever elections independence era.
The situational report says the country’s media and civil society groups operate under intolerable conditions that stifle democratic space for the population at large, which limits expansive civic space needed for a free and fair elections. Members of the Commission presented their report today to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last week on Thursday.
Commission Chair, Yasmin Sooka said their investigations, again, found an unacceptable situation in South Sudan, whereby families and communities are devastated by human rights violations and abuses by armed forces, militias, and State institutions acting with impunity.
“The drivers of violence and repression are well known, and while commitments have been made to address them, we continue to see a lack of political will to implement the measures necessary to improve millions of lives,” said Mr Sooka.
The report said South Sudan’s immediate and long-term future hinges on political leaders finally making good on their commitments to bring peace and reverse cyclical human rights violations.
The findings detail the persistence of armed conflict whereby State actors have either instigated or failed to prevent or punish violence, which frequently involves killings, sexual and gender-based crimes, and the displacement of civilian populations.
The Commission also identifies the use of children in the armed forces, the State’s systemic curtailment of media and civil society actors both in and outside of the country, and the diversion of available State revenues from rule of law, health, and education institutions.
“The transformative promises of the Revitalised Agreement remain unfulfilled, jeopardising prospects for peace and human rights protections,” said Commissioner Barney Afako, referring to the 2018 peace agreement between President Salva Kiir and various armed groups.
The agreement did not kick off until February 2020 with the unity government extending its tenure for another two years in which they planned to hold elections.
He said the process of merging forces is not yet completed, the drafting of a permanent constitution has not started, and none of the three transitional justice institutions are established.
“Time is running out for South Sudan’s leaders to implement key commitments, which are the building blocks for peace, for holding the country together, and advancing human rights beyond the elections,” said Mr Afako.
The report finds that patterns of violations remain unchanged and are in fact ever-increasing because the root causes remain unaddressed. Abductions of women and children in Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area appear to be worsening in scale and severity, frequently involving horrific sexual violence and the separation of parents from children.
The Commissioners visited these regions last month, spoke with survivors, and delved deeper into the harrowing issues of abductions, forced displacements, sexual slavery, and ransoms.
In 2023, authorities paid ransoms to captors in exchange for the release of abductees, which risks the recurrence of crimes. Many women and children are still missing; other abductees are held hostage as authorities fail to effectively intervene. The perpetrators of abductions previously documented by the Commission had not been punished.
Murle women told the Commission they were taken to a market area in the Jonglei State capital, Bor, where they witnessed abductors being paid ransoms in exchange for their release. Government authorities confirmed their involvement in “negotiations” for releasing abductees but denied that money had been exchanged. Many women and children remain missing or held hostage. Nobody has been punished for past or recent abductions. They continue unabated.
“The persistent failure to build a justice system implicates the State in these violations. There is no protective institution between the people and criminals, and it is no coincidence that areas most affected by abductions and other gross violations have few courts and judges, if any,” said Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández.
The report is accompanied by a detailed paper published by the Commission on October 5, 2023, examining the persistence of attacks against journalists and human rights defenders, and pervasive regimes of media censorship and arbitrary restrictions on civic activities, which systemically curtail the democratic and civic space.
It was prepared by the commission after interviewing over 350 witnesses, engagements with South Sudanese authorities; expert open source, forensics, and legal analysis. Additional missions included trips to regional counties that host South Sudan refugees such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
The key findings include; that subnational conflict is often stoked by national political and military elites or enabled by the State’s passivity in building rule of law institutions needed to stop violence. Impunity fuels violence: in April 2023, the Commission named government officials responsible for serious crimes, including the crime against humanity of sexual violence. All remain in office, none are held accountable, and many have continued perpetrating rights violations.
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