This briefing paper draws on the work of our organizations over the last decade and credible secondary sources, including UN reports. It proposes ten priorities that should form the basis of a comprehensive human rights agenda that are based on South Sudan’s existing obligations in the Bill of Rights, international and regional law treaties, customary law, and the human rights reforms in the R-ARCSS. Many of the recommendations set out in this document were accepted…
Entries by Human Rights Watch
Summary South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) was established in 2011, after the country gained independence. The 2011 Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, mandates the NSS to collect information, conduct analysis, and advise relevant authorities. But since its establishment, the NSS has gone much further than merely collecting information. Within months of its establishment, its agents were arresting and imprisoning journalists, government critics and others, and conducting physical and telephonic surveillance. Today,…
Introduction On August 25, Transitional Justice Working Group of South Sudan, Human Rights Watch, and Institute for Security Studies held a webinar for the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) members and other officials to discuss the urgency for the establishment of the AU Hybrid Court for South Sudan, as a key factor toensuring long term stability and accountability for serious crimes in South Sudan. The initiative came on the heels of a…
(Nairobi) – South Sudanese armed forces and armed opposition groups continue to recruit child soldiers and force them into the conflict, despite numerous commitments to stop, Human Rights Watch said today. The United Nations, the African Union (AU), the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and their member states should immediately impose and enforce an arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions against individuals responsible, including President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and all other commanding…
This report is based on interviews in 2014 and 2015 with 101 children associated or formerly associated with armed forces and groups from Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk tribes, mostly from the three states of Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile.
This report documents violations of international law during South Sudan’s government military campaign in Unity State, April 2015.
This report documents abuses by government and opposition/allied forces, focusing on Juba, where the conflict erupted in December 2013, and three other main towns.
Drawing on research conducted by Human Rights Watch staff in Nairobi and Juba, this report focuses on criminal accountability for serious crimes committed during South Sudan’s current conflict.
Based on interviews with more than 50 displaced Murle victims and witnesses, “They Are Killing Us” exposes how the conflict and serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have forced the majority of the Murle population to flee to remote areas of the bush, many of them cut off from access to emergency food and medical aid.
This report examines child and forced marriage in South Sudan. The report suggests that child marriage has a significant negative impact on women and girl’s realization of key human rights, including their rights to health and education, physical integrity and the right to marry only when they are able and willing to give their free consent.