South Sudan: Local Troika statement in commemoration of the 1st anniversary of the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (22.02.2021)

South Sudan: The Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) – Breaking the Silence – The Way Forward (19.02.2021)

South Sudan: Violence in South Sudan engulfs country, 10 years after independence ‘children all have guns’ (19.02.2021)

OCHA/Cecilia Attefors | An armed individual in the town of Pibor, in Jonglei state, South Sudan. Pibor has seen violent clashes and confrontations that have resulted in displacement as well as destruction of livelihood and property.

Commission member Barney Afako explained that signing the cessation of hostilities ceasefire had left “a vacuum” at the community level.

NEW YORK, United States of America, February 19, 2021 – Extreme violence and attacks involving thousands of fighters at a time have engulfed more than three-quarters of South Sudan, UN human Rights Council-appointed investigators said on Friday, warning that the bloodshed faced by civilians are “the worst recorded” since the country’s civil war began in December 2013.

Highlighting a continuing lack of local and national infrastructure almost a year since the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights in the country noted that although the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement two years ago had “led to a reduction in hostilities at the national level”, the country seen “a massive escalation in violence” locally.

Power vacuum filled by fighting 

Echoing that finding, Commission member Barney Afako explained that signing the cessation of hostilities ceasefire had left “a vacuum” at the community level.

“There are no governors in place or no county commissioners in place. So, there is nobody to deal with those cleavages which had remained. Instead what we saw, was that the weaponry that have been left in the community as well as that which is now supplied by others fuelled this communal violence”, he said.

Other worrying developments include restrictions and self-censorship among journalists and pressure groups.

New level of fear 

“The level of State suppression and inability of civil society or journalists to operate is now completely different”, said Commission member Andrew Clapham. “There is sort of levels of fear and the State suppression and the fact that you can be picked up and tortured and killed is rather different”. 

In its latest report, the Commission describes “waves of attacks and reprisals” that have left hundreds of South Sudanese women, men and children dead, maimed or destitute in Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

Ms. Sooka told journalists via video conference that the armed groups and militias had mobilized along ethnic lines, often with the support of armed State and opposition forces.

She highlighted clashes last year between allied Dinka and Nuer militias and Murle pastoralist militias with massive violations against civilians, including killing and displacement.

“We have documented the new levels of militia violence engulfing more than three-quarters of the country at a localized level in which children carry weapons and women are traded as spoils of war like chattels”, Ms. Sooka said.

‘Children all have guns’ 

The Commission Chairperson said that civilians described combatants using weapons that they had never seen before.

“One man told the Commission, ‘I went to Pibor town and I saw guns being sold there. There the black guns used by the NSS were being sold for 25,000 South Sudanese shillings, each less than a few hundred dollars.’ He also said that children all have guns”, she recounted.

Ms. Sooka also described as “shocking” the high number of fighters involved in localized conflicts and highlighted that women were traded as “spoils of war”.

Moreover, children carry weapons and the levels of violence “have already surpassed” those documented in December 2013, when civil war erupted.

Forced to fight, identities erased 

Describing attacks in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor area, she pointed to “systemically and deliberately torched” homes, murders, forced displacements, abductions, rapes, sexual enslavement and, in some instances, forced marriages to captors. Abducted boys have been forced to fight and, sometimes “forcibly assimilated into rival armed groups”.

These victims have had their ethnic and other identities “completely erased”, according to the Commission’s report, which noted that as of December 2020, hundreds of abductees were still missing, with hundreds of thousands displaced by the violence and recurrent flooding.

The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan is due to present its report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 10 March.

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South Sudan: Statement from South Sudan Council of Churches – A Response to the National Taskforce on COVID-19 (06.02.2021)

South Sudan: Ministry of Presidential Affairs – Press Statement (03.02.2021)

South Sudan: Statement by Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, welcoming moves by the Government of South Sudan to establish transitional justice institutions (02.02.2021)

South Sudan: Ministry of Presidential Affairs – Press Statement (02.02.2021)

South Sudan: Letter from Minister of Presidential Affairs Nhial Deng Nhial to Secretary General of St. Egidio Community Paolo Impagliazzo – Subject: Status of Participation of (R-TGoNU) in the Peace Talks with (SSOMA) scheduled for 2/2/2021 (30.01.2021)

South Sudan: Renewed political commitment to initiate transitional justice in South Sudan must deliver for victims, UN experts note (01.02.2021)

Juba/Geneva (1 February 2021) – The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan welcomed today the decision by the South Sudanese Government on Friday, 29 January 2021 to proceed with the processes of establishing the Hybrid Court, and other transitional justice mechanisms to address violations committed during the conflict.

In fulfilment of outstanding obligations under the 2018 Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, the Cabinet formally requested the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to take the necessary steps for establishing (i) the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing to investigate and document patterns of human rights violations and causes of the conflict in South Sudan; (ii) the Hybrid Court for South Sudan to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for violations of human rights and humanitarian law, and atrocity crimes; and (iii) the Compensation and Reparation Authority that will administer a fund to provide reparation and assistance to affected victims.

“After more than two years of delay the Government has at last taken the first steps to initiate key transitional justice measures to address the legacy of gross human rights violations in South Sudan,” stated Commission Chair Yasmin Sooka. “If the Government of South Sudan is to retain any credibility whatsoever, the political rhetoric must translate into tangible, and genuine results,” she cautioned. “Most critically, the Government must complete all the processes of reconstituting the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, which is to enact the domestic legislation for establishing the three transitional justice mechanisms under the 2018 Agreement. The Commission has provided benchmarks to the Government on the speedy implementation of the commitments under Chapter V.”

A failure to adhere to the timelines of the 2018 Agreement, a particularly protracted political stalemate, delayed the formation of the new Government and the completion of key appointments, putting the establishment of the transitional justice mechanisms on hold.

“These delays have meant that the underlying causes and drivers of the conflict, including competition for resources, territorial control, and political influence, have continued to fuel localized conflicts, rampant corruption, and economic crimes in South Sudan, stated Commissioner Andrew Clapham. Meanwhile, those responsible for war crimes and continuing human rights violations have been emboldened by a system that permits impunity for torture, enforced disappearances, and atrocity crimes,” he added.

The absence of accountability and reparation, including for sexual violence, undermines the fabric of society, breeds resentment, and defers the prospects of reconciliation and healing, while victims also continue to bear multiple burdens of physical, psychological, and socio-economic consequences of the violations, the Commission noted. The delay in establishing these institutions has robbed the people of South Sudan of the opportunity to achieve sustainable peace.

“Given the approval of the Cabinet, the Government should now take immediate steps to sign the memorandum of understanding with the African Union and adopt the draft Statute to establish the Hybrid Court,” said Commissioner Barney Afako. “It should also initiate broad-based and inclusive national consultations so that South Sudanese can contribute towards the formation of the other transitional justice processes, especially the truth commission,” he added.

The Commission further stressed that the hopes and expectations of the South Sudanese people will be raised again by the Government’s announcement, and that the Government must deliver on its obligations, including by prioritizing the provision of urgent and comprehensive reparation measures to address the harms and losses suffered by victims and communities.

“We also welcome the statement of the Chair of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki expressing his support to the Government of South Sudan and the people of South Sudan in their quest for peace and security in South Sudan”.

ENDS

The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan was established by the Human Rights Council in March 2016 and extended in March 2017, and for further years in March 2018, March 2019, and June 2020, with a mandate to determine and report the facts and circumstances of, collect and preserve evidence of, and clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence, with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability.