GENEVA :
The prospects for a long-lasting peace in South Sudan are threatened, according to U.N. investigators, and there’s a chance that free and fair elections—the first since the nation’s independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011—will be impeded in December.
Members of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan expressed optimism that the government will uphold the terms of the 2020 renewed peace agreement in their most recent report, which they submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday.
The future does not look good. Members of the commission concur that a lot of work has to be done before later this year’s elections can take place. The commission observes that although South Sudan is nearing the conclusion of a democratic process, work on a new, permanent constitution has not yet begun.
Barney Afako, a commission member, said the council that South Sudan’s deeply ingrained impunity was a major contributor to the country’s armed conflict, repression, corruption, and abuses of human rights, including sexual assault. He pointed out it was hardly a setting conducive to holding free and fair elections.
He declared, “We identified key authorities accountable for grave offenses, including as extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, and sexual assault, last April.” Gordon Koang, the commissioner of Koch County, and Joseph Monytuil, the governor of Unity State, all keep their jobs. These two people continue to incite severe violence and abuses while living in impunity.
The commission report presents a startling image of a society in which homicides, crimes against women and girls, and flagrant abuses of human rights against the general public are all too common.
It claims that minors are enlisted in the army, and that armed cattle guards and militias invade and seize farmers’ land, abducting large numbers of women and children and abusing them sexually.
The commission contains records of incidents involving young girls and women who were kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Many of the victims, according to Afako, have stated that they have been repeatedly raped, beaten, and threatened with death.
“The frequency, intensity, and violence of kidnappings are increasing. He declared, “These attacks are well-planned.” Authorities claimed to be helpless to stop them, despite the fact that they were frequently well aware of them. Authorities have instead pushed families to compensate kidnappers and engaged in ransom negotiations. This, in our opinion, can only encourage more kidnappings.
The core causes of violations, he claimed, were impunity and the absence of institutions for justice, accountability, and protection, “including targeted killings, repression, torture, and sexual abuse against women and girls.”
The commission demands that the government of South Sudan immediately set up mechanisms for transitional justice and permit the nation’s political process to function in a meaningful and lawful manner.
The South Sudanese minister of justice and constitutional affairs, Ruben Madol Arol, referred to the commission report as appalling. According to him, the government’s efforts to carry out the renewable accord and boost national security are not taken into account in the report.
The report’s portrayal of pervasive sexual and gender-based violence against women and children in South Sudan incensed him, calling it “deceptive and intended to ruin the image of the country.”
The administration has made some “clear progress on institutional electoral preparations,” according to Christian Salazar Volkmann, director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ division of field operations and technical cooperation, who addressed the council on this topic.
He stated that although there were some encouraging signals of openness with civil society, they were not enough to “create the requisite congenial climate” for South Sudanese citizens to fully exercise their democratic right to vote.
“At the moment, there are still significant limitations on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly, expression, and opinion,” he stated.
In South Sudan, there is still censorship, intimidation, arbitrary incarceration, and persecution of journalists and dissident voices. This obstructs sincere citizen participation in the democratic process,” he declared.
Arol, the minister of justice, did not take the criticism lightly. If the U.N. Human Rights Commission in South Sudan does not accept these new criteria, he threatened to revoke its mandate.
He stated that the government must be provided with the commission’s “evidence and identities of the individuals and institutions accused of human rights breaches.”
In addition, he said, the commission must consent “to monitor and report human rights concerns” and turn over all investigative duties to the government.
“The government will approve the extension of [the commission’s] mandate for a period of one year only if these positions are accepted,” he declared.
Ninety-five humanitarian and human rights organizations urged the council to extend the commission’s mandate in a letter they issued early last week to observer governments and council members. They conveyed worry on the state of human rights in South Sudan in light of the impending elections.
As “the only mechanism tasked with collecting and maintaining evidence of infringement on international humanitarian and human rights law with a view to securing accountability,” they highlighted the commission’s crucial role.