United Nations A/HRC/37/CRP.2 General Assembly Distr.: Restricted 23 February 2018 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-seventh session Agenda item 4 Human Rights Situations that require the attention of the Council Report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan* * The information contained in this document should be read in conjunction with the report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (A/HRC/37/71). GE. CRP on the Report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in English2 Contents Page I. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Mandate/Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 3 A. Mandate ......................................................................................................................................... 3 B. Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 4 C. The Commission’s work .................................................................................................................. 6 III. Background ......................................................................................................................................... 7 A. Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (2015)..................... 7 B. Breakdown of the ARCSS ................................................................................................................ 8 C. IGAD Monitoring Mechanism: JMEC and CTSAMM .................................................................... 8 IV. Current Context...................................................................................................................................... 8 A. Political and Security Context .......................................................................................................... 8 B. Humanitarian situation ..................................................................................................................... 13 V. Applicable Law ...................................................................................................................................... 18 A. International Human Rights Law ..................................................................................................... 18 B. International Humanitarian Law ...................................................................................................... 24 C. International Criminal Law .............................................................................................................. 27 D. Domestic Law .................................................................................................................................. 32 VI. Thematic Human Rights Issues.............................................................................................................. 33 A. The Status of Women in South Sudan .............................................................................................. 33 B. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence ................................................................................................. 35 C. Conflict-related sexual violence ....................................................................................................... 36 D. Impact of the Conflict on Children ................................................................................................... 44 VII. The Armed Forces of the State, the Opposition Armed Groups, and Militia ......................................... 51 A. The Armed Forces of the State (SPLA) ........................................................................................... 51 B. Armed Opposition Groups and Militia ............................................................................................. 52 VIII. Emblematic Incidents ............................................................................................................................ 54 A. Yei, Lainya and Kajo Keji Counties, Central Equatoria State, 2016 –2017 ..................................... 54 B. Pajok, Eastern Equatoria State, 2017 ............................................................................................... 67 C. Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State, 2016 and 2017 ........................................................................ 74 D. West Bank Offensive, Upper Nile State, 2017 ................................................................................. 86 E. Pagak Offensive, Upper Nile State, 2017 ......................................................................................... 99 IX. Accountability and Transitional Justice ................................................................................................. 113 A. Transitional Justice ........................................................................................................................... 113 B. Criminal Justice context ................................................................................................................... 120 X. Conclusions and Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 125 A. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 125 B. Recommendations ............................................................................................................................ 126 Annex I. List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... 128 2 CRP on the Report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in English2 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 31/20 of 23 March 2016, the Human Rights Council established the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for a period of one year, and requested the Commission to, inter alia, monitor and report on the situation of human rights in South Sudan to make recommendations for its improvement, and to assess past reports on the situation of human rights since December 2013, in order to establish a factual basis for transitional justice and reconciliation. 2. On 14 June 2016, the President of the Human Rights Council appointed Yasmin Sooka, Kenneth R. Scott and Godfrey M. Musila to serve as the three members of the Commission, with Ms. Sooka as its Chair. Mr. Scott was replaced by Professor Andrew Clapham as Commissioner on 21 September 2017. Mr. Musila resigned from the Commission on 31 January 2018. 3. On 14 December 2016, the Human Rights Council convened a special session on South Sudan to discuss the deteriorating situation of human rights, which was attended by the Chair of the Commission. The Commission submitted its first report A/HRC/34/63 on 6 March 2017. At its 34th Session on 24 March 2017, the Human Rights Council extended the Commission’s mandate in Resolution 34/25 for a period of one year, renewable as authorised by the Human Rights Council. 4. The Commission was supported by a secretariat of fourteen professional staff based in Juba and Addis Ababa, consisting of human rights investigators, legal and gender advisers, forensic and military experts, a coordinator and security and administrative officers. The first member of the secretariat was deployed on 15 August 2017 and the secretariat was fully deployed as of 28 October 2017. 5. The African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan, UNMISS Human Rights Division, the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a number of South Sudanese civil society organisations and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) have documented human rights violations and crimes committed by both sides to the conflict since December 2013.1 6. The Commission chose to focus on incidents that are emblematic of crimes and violations committed during the past two years, during which there was limited reporting. This report examines recent incidents in the former states of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Upper Nile, and seeks to clarify responsibility, as far as possible, for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes committed in those locations during 2016 and 2017. II. Mandate/Methodology A. Mandate 7. On 24 March 2017, the Human Rights Council extended the Commission’s mandate in Resolution 34/25 for a period of one year. The Council also mandated the Commission to include “determin[ing] and report[ing] the facts and circumstances of, collect[ing] and preserv[ing] evidence of, and clarify[ing] responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence, with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability, and to make such information available also to all transitional justice mechanisms, including those to be established pursuant to chapter V of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the 1 See for example in 2014: African Union, Final Commission Report; South Sudan Human Rights Commission, Interim Report on South Sudan Internal Conflict, 15 December 2013 – 15 March 2014; Amnesty International, Nowhere Safe: Civilians under Attack in South Sudan; Amnesty