A surge in sexual violence in South Sudan’s Unity state – targeting victims as young as eight-year-old – has prompted UN calls for the government to protect victims and bring those committing such offences to justice.
A joint report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Mission in South Sudan has found that while attacks against civilians have decreased significantly since a peace agreement was signed on 12th September last year, endemic conflict-related sexual violence continues in a context of “pervasive impunity, which contributed to the normalisation of violence against women and girls”.
The report found that at least 134 women and girls were raped and 41 suffered other forms of sexual and physical violence between September and December last year. Almost 90 per cent of the women and girls were raped by more than one perpetrator, often over several hours. Pregnant women and nursing mothers have not been spared.
One 30-year-old survivor was quoted as saying there is no escape for women.
“We women do not have a choice. There is no alternative for us. If we go by the main road, we are raped. If we go by the bush, we are raped. I was raped among others in the same area repeatedly on three different occasions. We avoided the road because we heard horrible stories that women and girls are grabbed while passing through and are raped, but the same happened to us. There is no escape – we are all raped.”
Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the volatility of the situation in South Sudan and lack of accountability had led armed actors to believe they can get away with rape and other forms of sexual violence.
“Sadly, we have continued to receive reports of rape and gang rape in northern Unity since the beginning of this year,” she said. “I urge the Government of South Sudan to take adequate measures – including those laid out in the peace agreement – to protect women and girls, to promptly and thoroughly investigate all allegations of sexual violence and to hold the perpetrators accountable through fair trials.”
