International rights group documents abuses in South Sudan
February 12, 2009 (NEW YORK) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report detailing insecurity and human rights abuses in South Sudan and urging the Government of Southern Sudan to take steps to uphold human rights.
Based on field work from several visits to Sudan last year, the 44-page report, “There is No Protection: Insecurity and Human Rights in Southern Sudan,” documents human rights challenges facing the SPLM-led Government of Southern Sudan.
HRW recommend to the Government of National Unity, comprising the northern National Congress Party and the southern Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), to implement without delay the human rights provisions of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the 21-year civil war.
South Sudan is overall dominated by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), but the semi-autonomous region also features a multiplicity of security actors and heavy small arms distribution.
“While the Government of Southern Sudan, created under the 2005 peace agreement, has made significant progress in state-building and reconstruction in a society ravaged by a long civil war, it has not been able to protect civilians from violence, including by its own security forces,” stated HRW.
“The problems include an inability to protect civilians effectively from armed attacks and violence, a failure to address abuses by security forces, and a weak justice system,” stated HRW.
Sudan is supposed to hold national elections this year in accordance with the 2005 peace agreement, and HRW attempted to tie the issue of human rights into the importance of elections. “The Government of National Unity needs to make human rights a top priority as it prepares for elections, by revising repressive national security and press laws and establishing a national human rights commission,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. The rights group stated that these reforms are urgent.
Among specific abuses cited in the report are shootings carried about by SPLA soldiers in Rumbek in September during a disarmament operation in which at least eight civilians were shot. “Witnesses reported that some soldiers were drunk and fired weapons at unarmed civilians,” said HRW.
Also cited, soldiers killed 10 civilians in two separate clashes with civilians in Eastern Equatoria during a law enforcement operation. “Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers killed three men at close range during one of the clashes and killed two unarmed civilians following the clashes,” said the researchers.
The report also documents crimes by southern security forces against civilians, including beatings, robbery, intimidation, land-grabbing, and sexual violence, and says that soldiers and former soldiers often view themselves as “liberators” of the South and above the law. Such cases are rarely prosecuted, claimed HRW, even when government bodies investigate human rights violations by soldiers.
“The Government of South Sudan should show it is serious about establishing the rule of law and investigate and prosecute all soldiers and security forces for crimes against civilians,” said Gagnon.
In addition, the report describes a “weak and nascent justice system in the South that has high levels of arbitrary arrests and detentions, prolonged pretrial detention, and very poor conditions in detention facilities.”
(ST)
yohannes pal
International rights group documents abuses in South Sudan
It should be suprise to the international right for the human right abuse, in the south sudan. soldiers do not know their basic responsiblity they don’t know that they are protecting the nation and the its civilians. they are still using ideas of post war era. South sudan came a bout becuase of these civilians we are killing. i therefore recomand to GOSS in order give proper training to the soldiers i know that soldiers are properly trained during the war but now its peace and development period they need to be retrained for to prevail
Sammy Wadar Lat Daknyaroah
International rights group documents abuses in South Sudan
Dear Folks,
Since 2005 when CPA was born, we in Southern Sudan have been airing out crimes committed by our “brothers” in the Northern part of this nation and forgot that our own sleeping room has been occupied by reeds and elephan grass, making it impossible for anyone sleeping inside to turn side by side freely.
Person like me has no blame for any SPLA soldiers that might have committed crimes, why? This is because a soldier is like a child that need directives and guidance from an adult person. If the commanding officers in SPLA haven’t spent much time explaining CPA protocols to the soldiers and how they should behave towards civilians, than how do you think they(Soldiers) can just automatically assumed good behaviour and attitude towards non-soldiers at this era? Don’t forget that this are the same brothers who liberated us and did get their food from civilians through many ways including looting, begging, stealing and so on and so forth. Few among sodiers have fixated to the previous era behaviour and are like the lost and found son in the bible.
The GoSS should indeed pull up its socks to put a side adequate budget for the Capacity building of SPLA Soldiers not limited to behaviour change towards civilians only but to be responsible and patrotic citizens. Moreover, soldiers need to be well paid on time and their barracks should at least be relocated outside civilian settlement areas.
Caution! Some of the behaviour of soldiers come as result of being provoke by civilians, sometimes. A good number of us is well informed about Protection and Human rights but the way we sometimes exercise our rights, the kind of approaches we used may lead to violation of another person’s right. We ourselves should change our attitudes towards soldiers and that is when they will adopt good ways of relating to other non-military persons.
It is not yet too late nor the situation is out of control. Let’s us do something about this in our respective levels as soon as possible. Don’t point your finger(s) at GoSS a lone. You are part of the change agent groups.
God Blessings!
Sammy W. Lat