GENEVA - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday expressed alarm at the fast-deteriorating human rights situation in South Sudan, following credible reports that almost 2,000 civilians have been killed this year alone as political tensions and hostilities have escalated.
At least 1,854 were killed, 1,693 injured, 423 abducted and 169 subjected to sexual violence in conflict from January to September, according to information documented by the UN Human Rights Office. This represents a 59 per cent increase in the total number of victims documented compared to the same period last year. The actual figures are likely higher, as security constraints and heightened access restrictions in conflict-affected areas have hindered full verification of incidents of violence.
The first quarter of the year recorded the highest number of civilian victims in any three-month period since 2020, as documented by the Human Rights Division of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Notably, the second quarter saw a sharp escalation in victims attributed to conventional parties to the armed conflict and other armed groups, rising from 144 to 438 compared to the same period last year.
"With fears of a collapse of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement and a return to widespread violence intensifying, I deeply worry for the plight of civilians in South Sudan," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
"I urge the parties to the Revitalized Peace Agreement and the international community, including regional bodies, to do everything in their power to pull South Sudan from the brink; to ensure the hard-won agreement holds and is fully implemented."
Civilian casualties are increasing as armed clashes between the parties to the armed conflict intensify, compounded by ongoing extrajudicial killings. The South Sudanese army has carried out military operations, including indiscriminate airstrikes in populated areas in the Upper Nile, Jonglei, Unity, Central Equatoria and Warrap states since March, resulting in civilian casualties, the displacement of the civilian population, and the destruction of medical facilities, schools, and homes.
Communal violence has also intensified, exacting a deadly toll on civilians with a 33 per cent year-on-year increase, particularly due to a rise in intra-communal attacks and counterattacks between armed elements from ethnic Dinka sub-clans in Warrap State; as well as retaliatory violence between ethnic Murle armed elements from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area and Dinka Bor and Lou Nuer armed elements from greater Jonglei State.
The UN Human Rights Office has also documented continued extrajudicial killings by the security forces. At least 45 individuals were killed in circumstances amounting to arbitrary deprivation of life, among them two boys. Most of the killings took place in Warrap State and Lakes State, in a context marked by inter-communal violence, suggesting that the South Sudanese authorities are using extrajudicial killing in their own response to inter-communal violence.
"Men, women and children have been killed, injured and displaced, and homes, schools, health centres and other infrastructure destroyed, with devastating consequences on civilians. This is unconscionable and must stop," said Türk.
"I implore the South Sudanese military and all other armed actors to ensure protection of civilians and to uphold all their obligations under international humanitarian law."
On 22 September, court proceedings involving First Vice President Riek Machar and other senior Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition members commenced in the capital Juba. They face charges of murder, treason, crimes against humanity and other offences related to the attack on a South Sudan People's Defence Force base in the northeastern town of Nasir in March this year.
"It is imperative that the ongoing judicial proceedings against First Vice President Riek Machar and his co-accused fully comply with international human rights standards," said the UN Human Rights Chief, urging the Government of South Sudan to ensure that the due process and fair trial rights of all the defendants are respected, and that the judiciary can operate free from political interference.
