• HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH SUDAN

    The first year of South Sudan’s independence, declared on July 9, 2011, was marred by intense inter-communal fighting in Jonglei state, deteriorating relations with Sudan amid ongoing conflicts along their shared border, and the economic consequences of South Sudan’s decision to shut down oil production. The government took steps to develop its legal and institutional structure but has yet to ratify major human rights treaties, despite repeatedly saying it would do so. Lack of capacity and inadequate training of police, prosecutors, and judges have resulted in numerous human rights violations in law enforcement and administering justice. Security forces have committed abuses while carrying out disarmament operations.

  • © 2013 Brent Stirton/Reportage by Getty Images for Human Rights Watch
    South Sudan: End Widespread Child Marriage
    The government of South Sudan should increase efforts to protect girls from child marriage. The country’s widespread child marriage exacerbates South Sudan’s pronounced gender gaps in school enrollment, contributes to soaring maternal mortality rates, and violates the right of girls to be free from violence, and to marry only when they are able and willing to give their free consent.
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South Sudan

  • Africa: Obama Visit Should Stress Media Freedoms
    Jun 25, 2013

    United States president Barack Obama should use his visit to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania, beginning June 26, 2013, to support besieged media outlets and independent groups across the African continent.

  • South Sudan: ‘Rough Justice’ in Lakes State
    Jun 24, 2013
    South Sudanese soldiers have unlawfully detained and ill-treated more than 130 civilians since February 2013 in response to armed violence and inter-communal fighting in Lakes state.
  • Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 14 June
    Jun 14, 2013
  • In South Sudan, Ending Child Marriage Will Require a Comprehensive Approach
    Jun 13, 2013
    Akech B. loved to study and dreamed of becoming a nurse. But when she was 14, her uncle who was raising her forced her to leave school to marry a man Akech described as old and gray-haired. The man paid 75 cows as dowry for Akech. He was already married to another woman with whom he had several children.
  • UN Human Rights Council: General Debate on the OHCHR report on South Sudan
    Jun 12, 2013
    Human Rights Watch welcomes the conclusions of reports of the High Commissioner for Human Rights presented to the Human Rights Council at its 21st and 23rd session and shares her view that in the area of human rights, actual implementation remains extremely weak in South Sudan. The government took noteworthy steps to develop its legal and institutional structure, but South Sudan continues to face enormous challenges.
  • Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan
    Jun 6, 2013
    Human Rights Watch will present a photography exhibition, “Dowry – Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan,” from June 13 to 26, 2013. The exhibit, by the award-winning photographer Brent Stirton, will be at Lincoln Center during the annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
  • South Sudan: No Justice for Protester Killings
    May 24, 2013
    South Sudan state authorities have failed to carry out adequate investigations into the killing of eight peaceful protesters in December 2012 by government security forces, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Put a Spotlight on African Women’s Reproductive Rights
    May 19, 2013
    Victoria J. married in 2009 at age 14, and became pregnant shortly after. “I started labour in the morning on a Friday …. The nurse kept checking and saying I would deliver safely. On Monday she said I was weak.
  • The Trials of Child Marriage
    May 13, 2013
    In Yemen, South Sudan, and other parts of the world, instead of going to school or spending time with their friends and families, girls, some as young as 8, are married -- often to much older men. If the girls don’t want to marry, their families generally force them. After they are wed, life often changes for the worse.
  • South Sudan: Stop Harassing, Detaining Journalists
    May 3, 2013
    Security force harassment and unlawful detention of journalists is undermining freedom of expression in South Sudan, the Agency for Independent Media (AIM), Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Human Rights Watch said today, on World Press Freedom Day.
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