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HRC South Sudan Presser-07MAR2023
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Edited News , Press Conferences | UNHCR
HRC - Press Conference: UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan 07 March 2023
STORY: UN Commission on Human Rights South Sudan – Report launch
TRT: 2 min 46s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 7 March 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Wide shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with panel of speakers
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Andrew Clapham, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “We have found that prevailing impunity is a major driver of this crisis, and that this crisis in turn caused immense suffering.”
- Medium shot, panel with speakers and journalist
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Andrew Clapham, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “The report also covers State sponsored extrajudicial killings, we have described multiple situations where State actors are the primary perpetrators of serious crimes under South Sudan’s laws as well as under International law. Members of these armed non state groups are also identified as the perpetrators of violent crimes carried out in various areas of conflict.”
- Medium shot, speakers at podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Andrew Clapham, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “We presented our report which identifies widespread attacks carried out against civilians, systematic sexual violence against women and girls and it also details the ongoing presence of children in fighting forces both on the government side and amongst armed opposition groups.”
- Wide shot, podium with speakers and screens
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Andrew Clapham,Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “Our reports document how Government officials directed militia to carry out widespread killings, systematic rape, and forced displacement of civilians in Leer county. “
- Medium shot, speakers at podium with photographer
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Barney Afako, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “We urge the country’s political leaders to shift away from prioritizing their own political and economic ends and instead to address and prioritize the needs and aspirations of South Sudan’s people.”
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) -Andrew Clapham, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “It is foreseen that the Hybrid court would have the possibility to prosecute people for Command responsibility. So that’s an important concept because it means that a Commander who has failed to prosecute those under his or her command for war crimes or other crimes that can be prosecuted in the court, could be prosecuted themselves for their omission for failing to act.”
- Medium shot, speakers on the podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Barney Afako, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan: “That the 2018 revitalized Peace Agreement remains an important framework to address the conflict, to address questions of repression, and the corruption that cause immense suffering and undermine the prospects of peace. The agreement also charts a pathway for South Sudanese to make a permanent constitution. This is something they have not done since Independence in 2011.“
- Close up screen with Professor Clapham while seeing him also on the podium
- Medium shot, photographer
Impunity as main driver of human rights and humanitarian crises in South Sudan is key finding of latest report of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan
More gross human rights violations throughout the country, including widespread and horrific attacks against civilians and State-sponsored extrajudicial killings have been documented by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in its latest report presented on Tuesday to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Violence against civilians persists which is fueled by pervasive impunity, which is one of the report’s key findings.
“We have found that prevailing impunity is a major driver of this crisis, and that this crisis in turn caused immense suffering,” said Andrew Clapham, Expert Members of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, speaking to the media at the UN in Geneva.
Addressing impunity in South Sudan is critical for stability and a peaceful future, according to the members of the Commission. Senior public officials and military officers should be held accountable for serious crimes.
“The report covers State sponsored extrajudicial killings; we have described multiple situations where State actors are the primary perpetrators of serious crimes under South Sudan’s laws as well as under international law,” said Professor Clapham. “Members of these armed non state groups are also identified as the perpetrators of violent crimes carried out in various areas of conflict.”
Based on investigations undertaken in South Sudan and the neighbouring region throughout 2022 the report identifies “widespread attacks carried out against civilians, systematic sexual violence against women and girls and it also details the ongoing presence of children in fighting forces both on the government side and amongst armed opposition groups,” said Mr. Clapham. He added that the report also “documents how Government officials directed militia to carry out widespread killings, systematic rape, and forced displacement of civilians in Leer county“.
Although the Government has announced special investigation committees, so the UN Commissioner Clapham. Only one such body appears to have carried out inquiries and no reports have been published.
Barney Afako, Expert Member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan , said that “we urge the country’s political leaders to shift away from prioritizing their own political and economic ends and instead to address and prioritize the needs and aspirations of South Sudan’s people”.
In 2021 the Government of South Sudan agreed to form a hybrid court to deal with past abuses, accountability and reconciliation to bring justice and healing to all South Sudanese. Once established, the court could be efficient in fighting impunity, said Mr. Clapham.
“It is foreseen that the Hybrid court would have the possibility to prosecute people for Command responsibility,” said Mr. Clapham. “So that’s an important concept because it means that a Commander who has failed to prosecute those under his or her command for war crimes or other crimes that can be prosecuted in the court, could be prosecuted themselves for their omission for failing to act”.
The Commissioners told the Council that South Sudan can be different, and that the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement remains the main pathway to address the conflict and lead the country to a new, more stable future.
According to Mr. Afako, “the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement remains an important framework to address the conflict, to address questions of repression, and the corruption that cause immense suffering and undermine the prospects of peace. He added that “the agreement also charts a pathway for South Sudanese to make a permanent constitution. This is something they have not done since Independence in 2011.“
-ends-
Teleprompter
OK, Good afternoon.
Thank you all for joining us today and welcome to this press conference at the Pally Denacion in Geneva.
We're pleased to have with us two members of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, who will be sharing with you the findings of their latest report which they presented to the Human Rights Council this morning.
Unfortunately, the Chairperson of the Commission, this Yasmine Suka, could not be here today, but we're very pleased to have with us two of the experts, Professor Andrew Clapham on my right and Mr Barney Falco.
As you may know, the Commission was established by the Human Rights Council in March of 2016 with a mandate to determine and report the facts and circumstances of alleged gross violations of human rights in South Sudan.
Its mandate has been renewed annually since most recently in March of 2022 for another year.
Before we begin, I should note that we've shared the press release with with all of you, which contains a link to the full report, and you should all have that by now.
If you don't, please let us know and we'll be happy to share it with you.
So the sequence of events today will be that the Commissioners will deliver their opening remarks and then we'll open the floor to questions.
If you do have a question, we'd appreciate it if you'd kindly introduce yourself 1st and the media outlet that you work for.
So now without further ado, we will begin and I give the floor to Professor Clapham.
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you very much for coming.
My name is Andrew Clapham.
I'm a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
I've been a member since 2017.
I'd like to note that this event is being recorded and the recording will be made available to the public later this morning.
At the Human Rights Council, we presented the Commission's 7th annual report on the situation of human rights in South Sudan and together with my colleague Bania Farko, who's here on my right, and our Commission Chairperson Yasmin Suka, who can't unfortunately be with us, but she is following these events very closely.
As I say, we presented our report which identifies widespread attacks carried out against civilians, systematic sexual violence against women and girls and it also details the ongoing presence of children in fighting forces both on the government side and amongst armed non group armed opposition groups.
The report also covers state sponsored extrajudicial killings we have described on multiple situations where state actors are the primary perpetrators of serious crimes under South Sudan's laws as well as under international law.
Members of these armed non state groups are also identified as the perpetrators of violent crimes carried out in various areas of conflict.
We informed the Human Rights Council that in a world facing multiple crises, the human rights and humanitarian situation in South Sudan should not be forgotten.
We have found that prevailing impunity is a major driver of these crises and that these crises in turn cause immense suffering.
As you've heard, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan was established in 2016, and we have a particular mandate to identify or clarify those who are responsible for human rights violations in South Sudan, as well as to collect and preserve evidence of crimes.
This evidence could be used in future accountability mechanisms.
All three of us serve as independent experts, and we are supported by a professional secretariat based in Juba.
The report that we presented an hour ago is the first of a couple of reports that the Commission is publishing.
Both documents detail the persistence of gross human rights violations throughout South Sudan, causing immense suffering for its people and, we feel, undermining any prospects for peace.
The findings and recommendations in our report are based on the investigations that our Commission has carried out during calendar year 2022.
We did this by travelling throughout South Sudan, but also to neighbouring countries to interview refugees who had flown, fled over the border and recounted to us their stories and their trauma from events in South Sudan.
The shocking stories that we have collected in South Sudan and in the neighbouring countries have continued month after month, year after year.
Many of the survivors say they are disillusioned and they are losing all hope in their future.
Our reports document how government officials directed militia to carry out widespread killings, systematic **** and forced displacement of civilians in Lear County.
This is an area considered to be loyal to the opposition.
The attack has completely destroyed the livelihood of communities who were already experiencing famine like conditions.
Our Commission has also found that in Tong North County, security forces launched a campaign of violence against civilians at a time when the heads of the government's three main security organs were deployed to the area.
Attacks there also exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation.
Our latest report also details extrajudicial killings in my own county during a military operation overseen by senior government and military officials.
Videos of the killings were shared widely on social media in South Sudan, causing outrage in a country that is not unfamiliar with brazen acts of brutal violence.
As in Lear and Tonj N, those bearing the responsibility for these human rights violations have faced no sanction and remain in their government positions.
In our report, we name the individuals who may bear the responsibility for these serious crimes both under the laws of South Sudan and under international human rights law.
In Upper Nile 4th situation, civilians were again targeted by multiple armed groups with competing political agendas in a quest for territorial control.
Survivors recounted moving from village to village, pursued by their attackers who killed and raped civilians based on their ethnic affiliation.
There were repeat attacks on civilians sheltering in makeshift camps and their food aid was looted.
No responsible institution took timely measures to protect these displaced people despite these risks of attacks being well known at the time.
The UN Protection of Civilian site in Malakal which we visited last month, both Bani Afarco and myself has been overwhelmed by 10s of thousands of new people arriving to seek safety.
This is a protection of civilians camp which capacity is supposed to be 14,000 and we were told is now closer to 40,000.
The individuals we spoke to there told us of their trauma, their hunger and the fears for their safety, as well as their loss of hope in their futures fuelled by such violence.
More people than ever in South Sudan require humanitarian aid, but overall assistance has decreased due to funding cuts and the massive challenges facing aid agencies around the world.
The aid agencies in South Sudan in particular are subjected to armed attacks and the looting of their food aid.
The systemic diversion of state revenues to corruption exacerbates this dire situation.
Although the government has announced different special investigative committees into the four situations that I mentioned earlier to examine each of them, in most cases it appears that no actual investigations have taken place and there have been no related prosecutions or trials.
Our Commission sees addressing impunity as critical to ending these human rights violations.
We feel that addressing the situation through accountability could enable stability and peace in a country reeling from decades of conflict.
In our address to the Council a moment ago, we therefore focused on the need for accountability for the perpetrators of serious crimes.
Our Commission has continued to preserve evidence in order to enable future prosecutions of perpetrators liable for crimes both under South Sudan's laws and under international law, perhaps in a future hybrid court for South Sudan.
I now invite my colleague Barnier Factor to share some of his reflections.
Thank you, Andrew, Thank you all, and good afternoon.
Last month, Andrew and I were in South Sudan where we had the privilege to meet with many survivors of the ongoing conflict and violations.
They told us of their trauma, their despair and their fears for the future in the face of what has been an ongoing conflict and protracted displacement over many years.
We visited Malakal, which is an Upper Nile state, and we share the concerns that we heard from displaced people about their safety and protection.
We see that the risks to them are escalating.
We also heard their concerns that political and electoral processes may carry even more risks of violence if not well handled.
We also noticed the continuing ethnic polarisation of communities affected by these conflicts.
As Andrew said, the need for justice is urgent.
It's also a fundamental prerequisite for peace because we cannot expect political or communal violence to end if the instigators go unpunished and unchecked.
We have stressed today and before that South Sudan can be different and that the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement remains an important framework to address the conflict, to address questions of repression and the corruption that cause immense suffering and undermine the prospects of peace.
The agreement also charts a pathway for South Sudanese to make a permanent constitution.
This is something they've not done since independence in 2011.
The agreement also has the ingredients to assist South Sudan to strengthen the rule of law and respect for human rights.
And we hope that the constitution making process will anchor these aspirations with a strong bill on human rights and an independent National Human Rights Commission to follow through on the implementation of the Bill of Rights because all of these are necessary for the stability of South Sudan.
Now we keep coming back to the question of the revitalised agreement because we understand that is only through these political processes, if they're credible, that we will have an end to the cycles of violence and violations.
Now these long delayed constitution making and elections processes are now planned for the next 18 months and we're therefore looking carefully to see how they will be implemented.
One of the important aspects is that civil and political space needed needs to be established because this has virtually disappeared from South Sudan.
Activists and journalists are operating under ****** of death and of detention, and those who flee the country into hiding are not safe from the long arm of the security services.
We've called on the authorities to immediately end the harassment of civil society and to guarantee political space.
The challenge of advancing peace and human rights in South Sudan is not easy.
It's heavy.
But we urge the country's political leaders to shift away from prioritising their own political and economic ends and instead to address and prioritise the needs and aspirations of South Sudan's people, because many of them are now disillusioned and in a desperate situation economically, socially and in terms of their humanitarian needs.
So international attention and support must not flag and the focus must be retained on the need for accountability and to sustain the peace efforts charted out in the peace agreement.
Following our workshop our visit in South Sudan, we held a workshop on transitional justice in Kenya and this dealt with a long delayed steps and measures to implement the agreement and to establish the mechanisms that will bring about accountability, truth telling, reconciliation and reparation for victims.
In the Council today, we thanked South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice himself who participated in the session for their continuing engagement with us as commissioners, but also their cooperation to our secretariat which is based in in Juba.
We believe that without dealing with the past, South Sudan will not be able to build a real nation that brings together its diverse peoples in peaceful coexistence and that puts an end to the cycles of violence that we have seen since its independence.
We therefore believe and urge South Sudan's leaders to faithfully implement the priority tasks that they have identified and assigned to themselves to complete a credible transition and we encourage them to sustain their commitment to a more democratic, just and prosperous South Sudan.
The people of South Sudan want to see greater energy and political will from their leaders to meet their aspirations for peace and prosperity.
We therefore urge their leaders to use the two year extension of the transition period to work towards achieving and realising those aspirations.
We would like to see a South Sudan ourselves, international community, the people of South Sudan, the region, the South Sudan, where human rights are protected and fulfilled, where instead of conflict and corruption and endless carnage, there's stability and growing democratisation and the rule of law.
Therefore, international attention, including that of the Human Rights Council, remains as important as ever.
Thank you for your attention, now handed back to my colleagues.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Falco, and thank you, Professor Clapham for your these important remarks.
Now we open the floor to questions.
We can go first to Geneva.
Nick.
Coming, Bruce from the New York Times.
Yeah, thank you.
As you said, incoming Bruce, New York Times, the the report repeatedly says that, you know, South Sudan has reached a critical juncture.
It seems that you're saying it's reached an Inflexion point.
Can you just give a sense of, you know, how much time has it got to address that Inflexion point?
And, and if it it's tipping over the edge of that Inflexion point, what, what are you suggesting could follow?
I mean, is it just a, a return to absolutely unchecked internal conflict?
And a second question, given the complete lack of accountability and it's important, as you say, to any prospect of peace and stability, why is the hybrid tribunal not at this point being brought into action?
What is needed to get that going?
Thank you.
We say that the next two years are critical because that's the period that the leaders of South Sudan have given themselves to complete the implementation of the revitalised agreement.
Now that agreement has several chapters which deals not only with questions of power sharing, but with reforms of the security sector which involve the merging or forces.
It also deals with questions of administration, economic management, as well as, of course, the matter that we're interested in, transitional justice.
It provides for the making, most importantly, of a permanent constitution and we believe that those processes are critical if you are going to have a South Sudan that has the elements of a democratic society.
Now, these two years, we can't take for granted on past performance that they will be implemented diligently.
And that's why we continue to urge the leaders to make sure that those critical steps are taken, particularly in constitution making, but also in terms of governance.
To begin to ensure that there is a genuine civic and political space for citizens to express their views, including about matters of governance, for political parties to form and to compete in the election.
And also for the constitution making process for citizens to gather and offer their views on what kind of of administrative, political and other architecture South Sudan should have.
That's why we believe the next 24 months are important, But it's actually the next few months, next eight months, where it will be important to put in place these processes which cannot be rushed.
Thank you.
Yes, indeed.
We, we have mentioned the African Union Hybrid Court every time we've come to Geneva to discuss our report before the Human Rights Council.
The meeting that was referred to in Kenya, Mombasa, was an attempt by the Commission to try to create an environment where some of the issues that are preventing the creation of this court should could be ironed out in very concrete terms.
There's a paragraph in the peace agreement 5.3 point 1.2 which says that the African Union's Commission shall provide broad guidelines relating to the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, its infrastructure, funding mechanisms, enforcement mechanism and the applicable jurisprudence.
Number and composition of judges, privileges and immunities of the court and other related matters.
And so one of the issues is that the African Union has the ball in their court.
If you like to prevent these, sorry to present these guidelines.
On the other hand, of course, those guidelines need to be worked out in cooperation with the government of South Sudan and they too need to engage with the African Union on these details.
So I think the expression we used in Mombasa was that our Commission was providing good offices and a forum where this discussion could start to take place.
I think the beginnings of the beginning of the discussion is happening.
That's probably a little too pessimistic in the sense that there is a draught statute for the court and there is a draught memorandum of understanding, which does explain a lot of the details.
It even gets into what the rules of procedure would be, how many judges there would be, what crimes could be prosecuted.
And in fact, that draught statute creates the basis on which we in our report say that somebody could face an indictment at the hybrid court because we are using the legal framework which has already been presented by the African Union as the appropriate framework to be used in this hybrid court.
So in practical terms, we're still a long way from seeing the creation of the court.
But that picture of things probably belies the truth that there is actually already quite a lot of material which explains how this court would work.
What 1 needs now is a combination of political will from the highest levels of government in South Sudan, as well as further momentum on the African Union side.
OK.
Thank you.
Do we have any questions from those reporters who are joining on Zoom?
I don't see any hands raised.
Yes.
OK.
Well, I'll just sort of follow up then by saying do you detect any of that political will needed to get that tribunal going?
Did the Kenya workshop iron out any of the details that need to be sorted?
Do you see specific steps being taken in sort of the foreseeable future that would show that there is a, a, a real determination to activate that Or, you know, from the layman's point of view, a tribunal like that looks like something that is absolutely against the interests of of those in political power in South Sudan and that they would therefore have no real advantage in, in activating it.
I mean, I think the low person's view is probably very sensible and wise.
It's true that it's difficult to see why a government in the abstract would be in favour.
On the other hand, this is a proposal which found its way into the peace agreement.
And there are different parties to the conflict who have different amounts of enthusiasm for this hybrid court.
And it's part of the peace deal.
So it's a complicated piece in the jigsaw of the process in South Sudan moving forward.
And it may depend, you know, which government ministers at any one time have more control over the dossier than others or which political parties or what happens in the political process now leading to elections.
So it's true that there will be some people who are very much against it and they might have even a philosophical objection that somehow accountability is not the most important.
We should be thinking about reconciliation, whereas other people feel that tackling impunity and having some prosecutions of some of those who have been responsible at a higher level is important for peace moving forward.
So I think while the hybrid Court remains a prospect, it's important that groups like ours can look at what is happening and explain which of these events could lead to prosecution in the Hybrid Court.
One of the aspects of the Hybrid Court, which I think is worth reiterating here, is that it is foreseen that the Hybrid Court would have the possibility to prosecute people for command responsibility.
So that's an important concept because it means that a commander who has failed to prosecute those under his or her command for war crimes or other crimes that can be prosecuted in the court could be prosecuted themselves for their omission for failing to act.
And that is a message which the Commission has tried to pass on to the military, both on the non state armed group side and also on the government side, that failure to prosecute the crimes that you become aware of tomorrow could lead to your prosecution in the hybrid court in a few years time.
And so whatever the timeline for the hybrid court, my sort of rather strong suggestion would be to military commanders.
It would be better to prevent and prosecute and punish those under your command because otherwise you will be the one that the hybrid court, which by definition is going to be looking at those who are most responsible will be looking at.
So I see the hybrid Court not only as a sort of possible future accountability mechanism, but also as a sort of preventive mechanism now to remind people that international institutions can come along in the future which are backward looking and which could indeed call for an international arrest warrant for somebody to be arrested and eventually prosecuted in the hybrid court, wherever it is sitting.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Andrew, any more questions from the room?
OK, sure, go ahead.
I wondered to what extent you have any concerns about the roles of foreign commercial or political interests in the country, and to what extent they are enabling some of the more egregious abuses that you're reporting.
In in relation to to foreign influence, we we start with a positive role that regional and international actors can play.
As you know, the agreement of 2018 was guaranteed by key countries in the region, some of whom supported the government during the period of insurgency.
What we urge them to do, and and many of them are indeed saying this, including in the Council today, is to_the importance of the road map set out in the peace agreement.
And I think there is a consensus across the whole spectrum of of views that the peace agreement is important, implementing it so that South Sudan has a new constitution, holds elections that are credible is is that I think there is consensus on that matter.
Undoubtedly governments often have alliances and and others who might be closer to them, but we we don't see that there is any entity that supports the violation of the rights of South Sudanese.
Indeed, when there is chaos in South Sudan, it translates into displacements into neighbouring countries who have to host S Sudanese in their millions.
So there isn't an interest in chaos in in in South Sudan.
And what we want to see is, is that being translated into political and diplomatic pressure.
But particularly on the leaders of, of South Sudan to do the right thing by their citizens, because in that way, the whole region prospers.
The current situation isn't to to anybody's benefit, but we continue to look closely at this.
Of course, if if they're actors who are complicit in the violation of rights and, and, and their identity comes on our radar, we will follow that up closely as well.
Thank you.
Thank you, Barney.
We'll go back to Zoom for one minute.
Do we have any questions from the journalists participating on Zoom?
OK, I think not.
Before we, close to the members of the Commission, have anything else to to add?
I think maybe just to reiterate that there would.
Oh, sorry, maybe to reiterate that we are limited in how large the report can be to the Human Rights Council.
There's a very strict word limit, but we will be producing a longer report which has more detail and which has anonymized references to witness statements, which is the sort of core of our work in terms of collecting and preserving evidence, which represents, if you like, the part of the archive of the Commission for future use and future accountability, whether it's before the Truth, Reconciliation and Healing Commission or the Courts of South Sudan, the courts martials of South Sudan or indeed the hybrid court.
And and maybe just to add, following our visit this last time and, and meeting with many survivors, we remain deeply concerned about politically inspired violence within the country because a lot of the political competition has moved out of the capital in Juba and is being manifested in, in violence proxy conflicts.
This will undermine the prospects of of a transition and in over the next 24 months because a lot of South Sudanese continue to still be displaced and some fleeing into neighbouring countries.
So it's critical that South Sudan's political elites and military elites should stand down from this really counterproductive and and damaging competitions and contestations.
These conflicts, even communal conflicts are also manifested in in appalling sexual violence against women.
And this really is something that the whole society needs to address.
We say that there should be accountability for perpetrators, but the strategy needs to go beyond that.
And, and that's why the processes of the Truth Commission is important.
It should reflect carefully on why there have been such levels of of sexual violence and what is it about the society that needs to change about its IT the way that it transmits its values to the next generation.
Thank you.
Thank you, Barney.
OK, thank you, Commissioners, for this briefing on South Sudan and thank you all for joining us today.
I think that brings this press conference to a close.
Thank you.