NEW YORK/JUBA - Addressing the UN General Assembly today, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned that amidst escalating armed conflict and political crisis, decisive and coordinated international action is urgently required to halt mounting human rights violations and to avert a total collapse of the country's political transition.
Commissioner Barney Afako told the General Assembly that the country is once again on the brink of catastrophe, as the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement - once seen as a roadmap to stability - risks total collapse, amidst political detentions and escalating conflict.
"South Sudan's political transition is falling apart," Commissioner Barney Afako said ahead of a briefing to UNGA's Third Committee, which examines social, humanitarian and cultural affairs. "The ceasefire is not holding, political detentions have become a tool of repression, the peace agreement's key provisions are being systematically violated, and the government forces are using aerial bombardments in civilian areas. All indicators point to a slide back toward another deadly war. The international community must recognize that the peace process is being dismantled in plain sight, and they should act before it's too late."
The Commission noted that armed clashes are occurring on a scale not seen since 2017, when a ceasefire was signed. The conflict dynamics have grown increasingly complex, with political power struggles intersecting with ethnic divisions and local grievances. Government reshuffles and partisan appointments have deepened mistrust between key signatories of peace agreement, while localized fighting, often along tribal lines, is being exploited by national actors to gain military and political advantage. These developments are eroding the ceasefire, fracturing governance structures, and heightening the risk of widespread armed confrontation.
Since March, fighting between its signatories has escalated sharply. Over 370,000 civilians have been newly displaced by conflict, many of whom have fled to neighbouring countries, now hosting 2.5 million refugees from South Sudan. Two million more South Sudanese remain displaced inside the country, alongside nearly 600,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan.
"The suffering of South Sudan's people is not collateral damage - it is the direct consequence of political failure," said Yasmin Sooka, Chair of the Commission. "Once again, civilians are being bombarded, women are being raped, children are being displaced and forcefully recruited into combat roles, and entire communities are living in fear - all of this is a tragic repetition of South Sudan's painful past. This war on the people of South Sudan is man-made and preventable. It will end only when political leaders are held to account and justice is no longer optional."
The Commission called on UN and African Union Member States to ensure concerted action to resolve a crisis rooted in governance failures and impunity. "Peace will not come through words or handshakes," Sooka said. "It will come through concrete actions - ending impunity, protecting civilians, and building institutions that serve people, not power."
The Commission presented its latest report to the Human Rights Council, published in February, and updated the Assembly on recent developments which have aggravated political tensions and escalated armed conflict and violence.
That report warned that conflict in Nasir between government forces and the local population was escalating, with ceasefire monitors calling for a neutral unified force to deploy and replace weary troops. Since then, the Government instead announced deployments of partisan forces. Armed local militia then overran the government garrison, killing numerous soldiers and precipitating the present national crisis. The report also highlights the Government's broken promise in 2024 to revoke detention powers from the National Security Service, which in 2025 has arbitrarily detained opposition leaders, accused of inciting the Nasir conflict.
The report found that the bodies of women and girls continuing to be subjected to extreme forms of sexual violations by armed groups and militias. National authorities are complicit in these crimes, and in forced recruitment and other grave violations against children. The report also details a state policy of extrajudicial killings which further inflames conflicts in areas where intra-communal violence is already rife. Rule of law institutions are starved of funding.
"South Sudan's conflict is fuelled by corruption - pure and simple," said Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández. "Billions in oil revenues have been siphoned off while the population starves. Hospitals have no medicines, schools have no teachers, and soldiers go unpaid while elites enrich themselves through opaque contracts and off-budget deals. Corruption is not a side effect of the conflict - it is one of its engines. South Sudan's leaders must realize that their corruption is killing South Sudanese. Accountability for economic crimes is essential - not only for justice, but to stop the violence that corruption keeps alive."
The direct links between entrenched corruption and the capture of public resources by elites are further detailed in the Commission's paper published on 16 September, entitled Plundering a Nation: How rampant corruption unleashed a human rights crisis in South Sudan. It examines how billions in oil revenue have been diverted through corruption, fuelling both conflict and deprivation.
The Commission urged the United Nations, the African Union, and regional partners to redouble their efforts to prevent further deterioration, including by ensuring accountability for violations and expediting the establishment of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. It also appealed for sustained diplomatic engagement to bring all actors - including those currently outside the peace framework - into an inclusive and credible political transition.
"South Sudan's people cannot endure another collapse," Sooka said. "Justice and accountability must not remain deferred promises. The international community must move beyond expressions of concern to concrete, coordinated action. Otherwise, the suffering will only intensify."
