The government must immediately remove from office – and investigate governors and county commissioners whose actions allegedly resulted in systematic sexual violence, says the UN Human Rights Commission.
UN experts from the commission released a press statement on Monday ahead of the International Conference on Preventing Sexual Violence.
Yasmin Sooka, the chairperson of the UN Human Rights Commission for South Sudan say many women in the country have been subjected to sexual abuse, while the men responsible for their suffering are being promoted and rewarded.
“Nowhere in the world do you find so many women who experience conflict by being repeatedly gang-raped, year after year since 2013, shunned and stigmatized, suffering in silence, while the men responsible are promoted and rewarded,” said the UN official.
Mrs. Sooka said it is not enough to try a handful of junior officers for crimes of sexual abuse – while those in high-ranking offices are shielded from accountability.
“It is not enough, now and again, to try a handful of junior officers without holding those in command responsible.”
A military court martial has so far tried or convicted dozens of soldiers and police officers to years in prison, (most notably in Yei) for sexual abuse crimes committed during the conflict.
But right groups have criticized the slow progress in establishing a hybrid court, to try people accused of committing wartime atrocities, as part of the 2018 peace deal.
Yasmin Sooka further states that it is meaningless for the government to come up with many declarations, national commitments, and pledges without action.
On Monday, today, South Sudan will be part of the two-day International Conference on Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative in London, United Kingdom.
According to a UN report released in March this year, armed groups including the organized forces in the country have committed widespread rape as part of military tactics.
The UN report holds government and military leaders responsible for their failure to punish those involved.
South Sudan has made repeated commitments to tackle sexual violence.
In 2014, President Salva Kiir signed a joint communiqué with the United Nations and agreed to be a champion in the fight against conflict-related sexual violence in South Sudan.
In 2015 the opposition SPLM/A-IO announced its Action Plan to tackle sexual violence, and a further Implementation Plan, while in 2019 the army unveiled an Action Plan to tackle sexual violence.
But the UN says rape is still one of the main ways in which women and girls experience ongoing conflicts in the country, with the vast majority of cases unreported because of fear of rejection by families and communities.
“This year, we have seen the most dehumanizing sexual violence in South Sudan,” said UN Human Rights Commissioner Andrew Clapham.
“The Government bears responsibility because of its failure over many years to hold individuals accountable, especially in Unity State where we are dealing with gross and systematic human rights violations amounting to international crimes,” Clapham added.
The UN Commission said it has reasonable grounds to believe that earlier this year, a government-appointed County Commissioner in the oil-rich Unity State was present, overseeing systematic gang rapes.
“This was part of a well-planned scorched earth offensive against civilians in an area considered loyal to the opposition, that involved beheadings,” the statement said.
“Days of brutal sexual assault by up to ten men at a time against young women and girls some as young as 9 years old.”
The UN Commission on Human Rights is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to collect and preserve evidence for use in a future Hybrid Court, the establishment of which has been delayed for many years.
Eye Radio’s efforts to reach the government spokesperson – Michael Makuei Lueth for comment, were not immediately successful.
But according to Reuters news agency, the information minister dismissed the commission’s statement as a fabrication.
“They come and sit in hotels here in Juba and fabricate these false reports on South Sudan to make a living … I am saying these are false reports fabricated against the government,” he told Reuters.