December 9th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has condemned November’s sexual harassment of South Sudanese women near Unity State’s capital Bentiu.
The sexual assault which sparked international uproar following revelation of several reports by rights investigators.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) said it condemns in the strongest term possible the sexual attack against South Sudanese women, something it said contravened international laws.
“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous incidents of sexual and gender-based violence against women near Bentiu in northern South Sudan in recent weeks,” partly read the statement from the UN Security Council.
The statement further threatened to impose sanctions against those it found responsible for threatening the peace and security of the world’s youngest nation by using the acts of violent such as rape, killing and torture against innocent civilians.
“The members of the Security Council recalled their willingness to impose targeted sanctions against individuals or entities responsible for actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of South Sudan including targeting of civilians, including women and children, through the commission of acts of violence, including killing, maiming, torture or rape or other sexual violence,” stressed the statement.
For his part, the UNMISS Human Rights Director, Eugene Nindorera, said in a statement seen by the Nyamilepedia that they reinforced the investigating teams on the ground due to the scale of the allegations and the number of women and girls that were raped.
“If you are looking at the number of rape cases that we have already registered, it is more than 150, and basically – especially in this specific context where we had seen some decrease in terms of violations and abuses and rape cases somehow because of the signing of the revitalized peace agreement – it is really a pity to see that this [is] happening right now,” he added.
