New Committee reportbased on interviews conducted with victims and witnesses over several years, describing a “Existence hell for women and girls”, with widespread rape perpetrated by armed groups all over the country.
According to for the United Nations Commission, sexual violence has been seen as a reward and entitlement for young men and women engaged in conflict.
The goal, the report goes on, is to cause maximum disruption to the structure of communities, including their ongoing displacement.
Rape is often used as “a part of military tactics for which government and military leaders are held accountable either because they fail to prevent these acts or because they do not,” the commission said. punish those involved.”
Bodies reduced to ‘trophy’
“It is outrageous and completely unacceptable that the female body is systematically used on this scale as the spoils of war,“Yasmin Sooka, Chairman of the United Nations Commission, stated.
Urging the authorities to take urgent and provable action, Ms Sooka said: “South Sudanese men must stop treating women’s bodies as ‘territory’ to be owned, controlled and exploited. “
Survivors of sexual violence detailed “astonishingly brutal and protracted gang rapes” perpetrated against them by multiple men, often while their husbands, parents or children were forced to witness, powerless to intervene.
Women of all ages report being raped repeatedly while other women were raped around them, and one woman who was raped by six men said she was even forced to tell The attackers said the rape was “good”, threatening to rape her again if she refused.
Anyone reading the details of this horrifying report can only begin to imagine what the lives of the survivors would have been like. – Andrew Clapham, member of the Committee
The consequences of trauma “ensure the complete destruction of the social fabric,” the United Nations Commission said.
Terrifying attacks
“Anyone who reads the details of this horrifying report can only begin to imagine what the lives of the survivors would have been like. Unfortunately, these accounts are just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone, inside and outside government, should think about what they can do to prevent further acts of sexual violence and provide adequate care to survivors,” said Andrew Clapham, member Committee member said.
One woman describes that her friend was raped by a man in the woods, who then said he wanted to keep having ‘fun’ and continued raping her with a stick of wood until she bled to death. The teenage girls are described as being left to die by their rapists while bleeding profusely.
Paramedics also report that many survivors have been raped multiple times over the course of their lives.
Injured for life
The report also describes how often women give birth as a result of rape, and notes that in many cases, survivors have contracted sexually transmitted diseases including HIV infection.
Next rape and pregnancy, women are often abandoned by their husbands and families, and extremes. Some of those who were raped while pregnant, had miscarriages.
Husbands searching for abducted wives and daughters often spend years unaware of their fate, with some learning that they have been kidnapped by men from rival ethnic groups and forced to gave birth to many children – such a man was badly hurt, he wanted to take his own life.
The Commission reports that these attacks are not random incidents of chance, but often involve armed soldiers actively hunting women and girls, with rape being carried out within attacks on villages, systematic and large-scale.
© UNICEF / Albert Gonzalez Farran
A South Sudanese woman who was beaten by her husband is seeking refuge at her brother’s house.
Accountability versus punishment
The Commission said the failure of political elites dealing with security sector reformand to meet the very basic needs of the armed forces on all sides, further contributing to a comfortable environment in which South Sudanese women are seen as currency.
Given the near-common level of rape and sexual violence, perpetrators avoid responsibility.
Call on The Government of South Sudan and the obligation to end punishment for serious criminalsThe Committee noted recent Government initiatives to address sexual violence in conflict, including the establishment of a special court and the institution of military justice proceedings.
While welcoming such measures, the Commission also said, “they remain regrettably flawed given the scale and severity of crime”.
The context of gender inequality
“There is a reputation that high-ranking officials involved in violence against women and girls, including cabinet ministers and governors, are not immediately dismissed and held accountable.
To solve this problem Violence is rampant in conflict and other contexts, those holding positions of command and other powers must rapidly and openly adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards gender and sexual violence. ‘ said Barney Afako, member of the Committee.
To understand the full impact of sexual violence related to conflict, it is also important to understand the social and cultural context in which sexual violence occursunder a patriarchy based on dominance and sexism.
Half of all women in South Sudan get married before turning 18, and the country has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
Sexual and gender-based violence is also prevalent outside of conflict, affecting women and girls in all segments of society.
The Commission is calling on the authorities in South Sudan to take the necessary steps to prevent sexual violence against women and girls, by addressing the punishment and causes of conflict and insecurity.
Committee’s work
The The United Nations Human Rights Commission in South Sudan is an independent body mandate of the United Nations Dong Nhan Quyen Association. It was first established in March 2016.
The Commission is tasked with investigating the human rights situation in South Sudan, and identifying and report the facts and circumstances of human rights violations and abuses, including by clarifying responsibility for violations and abuses that are criminal under national and or international law.
