Civilians in South Sudan continue to bear the brunt of violence, with a concerning 51 percent increase in victims harmed by conventional parties to the conflict and other armed groups, as well as a similar rise in incidents of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) documented in the 2024 annual brief by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
According to a press statement by UNMISS, between January and December 2024, the Mission documented 1,019 violent incidents affecting 3,657 civilians, with 1,561 killed, 1,299 injured, 551 abducted, and 246 subjected to CRSV. This marks a 15 percent increase in violent incidents (from 885 to 1019) and a nine percent increase in victims (from 3,340 to 3,657) as compared with 2023.
“Armed communal violence by community-based militias and/or civil defense groups remained the leading cause of harm against civilians, accounting for 79 percent of victims,” the brief revealed. “Consistently, Warrap State recorded the highest number of civilian deaths and injuries, whereas Western Equatoria State documented the highest number of sexual violence.”
The majority of abductions took place in Central Equatoria State, mainly by alleged members of National Salvation Front splinter groups, followed by Jonglei State, allegedly by Murle armed elements, the brief stated.
“Protecting civilians and preventing violence requires urgent action by authorities at the national, state, and local levels as well as by communities to address the root causes of conflict and find non-violent solutions,” said Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to South Sudan and the Head of UNMISS. “Promoting dialogue, reconciliation, and social cohesion is critical to defusing tensions and building trust.”
The Mission said the Government of South Sudan bears primary responsibility to protect civilians and calls on national and state authorities to take appropriate measures to end violence, defuse tensions, and hold perpetrators accountable.
“UNMISS supports these efforts by conducting thousands of peacekeeping patrols by land, air, and river each year,” the statement reads in part. “The Mission also supports community efforts to promote reconciliation and peacebuilding through dialogue and actively assists political and peace processes, including security and justice sector reform, constitution-making, and preparations for elections.”
However, the Government of South Sudan, responding through Justice and Constitution Affairs Minister Dr. Wek Mamer Kuol, rubbished UNMISS’ Annual Brief and stated that “the allegations and data provided in the UNMISS-Human Rights Division of the Annual Brief on Violence Affecting Civilians especially on number of reported victims, communal violence and child rights violation are with technical errors and not accurate.”
According to the minister, the data in the Annual Brief does not reflect the current situation in the country.
“Some of the alleged human rights violations were either resolved through trials or dismissal of the administrator(s) involved or caused these human rights violations such as the current cases in Jonglei State, Warrap State, Western Equatoria State, Western Behr BI- Ghazal State, Upper Nile State and Pibor Administrative Area,” Dr. Mamer wrote. “These former administrators were relieved as a way of addressing the alleged human rights violations. The Government would also like to state that it is irrational that all victims of the alleged human violations were not able to come forward to report the human rights violations, committed against them, to the authorities, including the police or the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.”
“However, the Government would like to state that the Annual Brief is not free from procedural errors and challenges. These errors include unwillingness of the alleged complainers to come forward to testify, monitoring and investigation challenges, making the allegation in the Annual Brief unverifiable, hence it is tainted, in its substance,” he added.
The minister contends that to improve monitoring of the human rights, UNMISS-Human Rights Division should share their findings with the government, especially the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, for verification and prosecution of the alleged human rights cases.