Gross human rights violations continue to take place amid renewed fighting in South Sudan, according to a new UN report.
In its third report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan found that the ongoing violence and human rights violations, including rape and sexual violence, may amount to war crimes.
The commission said the situation with regard to sexual violence and rape has markedly worsened since December, 2017, with documented cases showing a surge in rapes between November and December last year, particularly in Northern Liech state.
Yasmin Sooka, the commission chairperson, said there was a “confirmed pattern” showing how combatants attacked and plundered villages, took women as sexual slaves and then set homes alight, often with people in them.
“Rapes, gang rapes, sexual mutilation, abductions and sexual slavery, as well as killings, have become commonplace in South Sudan,” she said. “There is no doubt that these crimes are persistent because impunity is so entrenched that every kind of norm is broken.”
UNICEF has reported that about a quarter of those targeted by sexual violence are children aged as young as seven. Elderly and pregnant women have also been targeted and its believed that sexual attacks on men and boys are under-reported because of the stigma attached.
The commission acknowledged the efforts of South Sudan’s government to hold perpetrators accountable but noted that “pervasive impunity remains the norm”.
