Juba, South Sudan
May 12, 2022 — Sexual violence cases have doubled in the country at the time that violence against civilians has decreased, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has said.
A report compiled by UNMISS’ Human Rights Division shows that cases of sexual violence have increased this year compared to the same period last year.
UNMISS says it documented at least 63 sexual violence cases from January to March this year – up from 28 compared to the same time last year.
The Mission registered about 173 incidents in total from a total of 754 civilian victims.
According to UNMISS, civil defense groups, the militias, are responsible for the majority of violence against civilians followed by conventional parties to the conflict.
In Jonglei, Eastern Equatoria, and Warrap states, majority of violence is attributable to inter- or intra-communal forms of conflict.
The Mission observes that intercommunal violence, particularly cattle-related conflict, was concentrated in areas where communities compete for scarce resources exacerbated by climate change.
It says the 2021 natural calamities such as floods and others were the worst in decades, and have further contributed to food insecurity and disruption of livelihoods of many locals.
Nicholas Haysom, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General has indicated that UNMISS will step up its efforts on tackling conflict-related sexual violence saying that sexual violence continues to be one of the most traumatic features of the conflict in South Sudan.
According to Haysom, UNMISS is already supporting efforts to promote protection, rule of law, and accountability, through the rapid deployment of temporary operating bases, support to mobile courts, and delivering specialized training on the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence.
“With violence surging in several parts of the country, UNMISS urges the Government of South Sudan to investigate human rights violations and abuses and to hold all perpetrators to account”, said Haysom in a statement.
The Mission calls for a swift and full implementation of the April 3 agreement on unified command and control structure, and graduation and deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces to enable South Sudan’s security sector to carry out the government’s primary responsibility to protect civilians.
In April, the parties to the R-ARCSS signed a compromise deal in which they agreed on the command structure of the Unified Forces within seven days and graduation of Unified Forces shall place after two months.
