Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned, that despite the August 2015 peace agreement in South Sudan, there has been limited progress addressing the human rights situation and hostilities have continued in various parts of the country.
In Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazzal, Human Rights Watch found that since late 2015 government soldiers conducting counter-insurgency operations have killed, raped, and unlawfully detained and tortured civilians, often accusing them of links to rebel groups. Soldiers have also burned and looted civilian property, leaving large parts of main towns empty. The abuses have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.
In Upper Nile, in February 2016, government soldiers participated in a brutal attack on the UN base in Malakal, killing more than 30 people, injuring more than 100, and destroying a section of the base. No meaningful measures were taken to identify those responsible for the attack or hold them accountable. The situation in the area remains tense, with likely further abuses by armed actors against the civilian populations.
The government’s national security service continues to detain large numbers of people at unofficial detention sites across the country. We are concerned not only about the unlawfulness of these detentions, but also credible allegations of ill-treatment and torture by government security officials.
Despite committing to accountability processes such as a hybrid African-South Sudanese court envisioned in the peace agreement, the government’s two leaders – president Kiir and first vice president Machar – have taken no meaningful steps to investigate alleged abuses or hold perpetrators to account.
In a controversial opinion article published in the New York Times on June 6, the transitional government urged international support for reconciliation instead of support to the envisioned hybrid court and other criminal justice mechanisms. The article, while it remains unauthenticated, raises concerns about the government’s willingness to fully implement its commitments.
We welcome the appointment this session of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, with a mandate to advance justice and accountability. We encourage the Commission to work with the government to develop a clear, unequivocal plan to implement the justice provisions of the peace deal, and we urge the Human Rights Council and its member states, together with South Sudan and other stakeholders, to ensure full cooperation with the Commission, and the implementations of its recommendations.
