from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – A nine-year-old girl gang-raped to death is among 173 civilians killed in South Sudan between February and May this year.
During the period, a total of 131 cases of rape and gang rape were documented in the southern Unity State.
Some 12 people were injured, and 37 women and children abducted.
Many of the abductees were subjected to sexual violence, including girls as young as eight and the nine-year-old girl who was gang-raped to death.
Approximately 44 000 civilians were displaced from at least 26 villages.
A joint human rights report published by United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented the gross violations and abuses of international human rights law.
These violations were committed during clashes between joint Government Forces and affiliated armed militias/groups on one hand, and elements of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO (RM)) – loyal to First Vice-President Riek Machar – on the other.
“Human rights violations were committed with impunity,” lamented Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMISS, Nicholas Haysom.
“The Government is duty-bound under international law to protect civilians, investigate allegations of human rights violations, and hold suspected perpetrators accountable in compliance with fair trial standards.”
South Sudan, the world’s newest country has suffered sporadic violence since 2013, two years after independence.
This is despite a peace pact between President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s government and the opposition.
– CAJ News