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	Deliberate Starvation and Corruption hallmarks of conflict in South Sudan by Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan   May 2020   Renewed intercommunal violence in South Sudan has reportedly left hundreds dead   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has condemned a new outbreak of intercommunal violence in South Sudan that has reportedly left hundreds dead according to local authorities, calling for those responsible to be brought swiftly to justice.   "The reports from Jonglei State are appalling, indicating that scores of civilians have been killed in attacks across 28 villages between 16 and 17 May, with many more injured and thousands displaced," said Bachelet.   "This recurring pattern of violence, which continues to claim lives in South Sudan, has to stop. I urge the Government to ensure measures are in place to investigate this violence and to ensure that those responsible are prosecuted, and that victims and their families have access to justice, truth and reparations," she stressed.   While politically motivated fighting in South Sudan has declined, this year has seen an increase in intercommunal violence. During the first quarter of 2020, it was the main source of violence affecting civilians, resulting in 658 people killed, 452 injured, 592 abducted and 65 subjected to sexual violence.   Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) have suffered years of food insecurity and were severely hit by flooding in 2019. There have been several outbreaks of violence there in recent months, including a series of attacks from mid-February to early March that left 220 civilians dead and during which at least 266 women and children were abducted. Most of these victims have not been released from captivity.   The nature of the intercommunal conflicts, long driven by tensions over access to natural resources, particularly water and grazing land for cattle, has been evolving in recent years, taking on an increasingly militarized character with military-style tactics and military-grade weapons.   "As I have indicated previously, for the peace in South Sudan to be durable, the State authorities must act to end these cycles of retaliatory violence, including by holding those responsible to account and promoting peace-building between individual communities," Bachelet said.   http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/south-sudan-bachelet-calls-accountability-hundreds-reported-killed-intercommunal http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoHSouthSudan/Pages/Index.aspx http://www.msf.org/renewed-violence-south-sudan-kills-msf-staff-member http://www.msf.org/war-and-conflict http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/05/26/South-Sudan-Jonglei-conflict-floods-aid http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/conflict http://www.globalr2p.org/countries/south-sudan/ http://www.globalr2p.org/populations-at-risk/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/05/covid-19-burns-worlds-forgotten-wars-continue-take-toll-civilians-well/ http://reliefweb.int/country/ssd http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/wfp-south-sudan-situation-report-269-15-may-2020   Feb. 2020   Deliberate Starvation and Corruption hallmarks of conflict in South Sudan, report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan   Millions of South Sudanese civilians have been deliberately deprived of access to basic services and many deliberately starved, while national revenues have been diverted by the country's politicians, says the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.   In its fourth report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, published just ahead of the February 22 deadline for the formation of a national unity government in South Sudan, the Commission says corruption and political competition have fuelled human rights abuses and are major drivers of ethnic conflict.   South Sudan is at a critical juncture at which its leaders need to make firm choices to move forward the stalled political process of implementing the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, noted Commission member Barney Afako. We urge all the parties to redouble their efforts to resolve the key outstanding issues.   Welcoming the recent decision by the Government of South Sudan and President Salva Kiir to reduce the number of States in the country to ten, a major sticking point in the peace process, the Commissioners noted that the proposed creation of three administrative areas remains controversial. Another remaining challenge is the question of security arrangements, including the formation of unified forces and protection for senior opposition leaders.   Millions of dollars have been diverted from the National Revenue Authority, depleting resources that could have been used to protect, fulfil and promote the vital economic, social and cultural rights of South Sudanese civilians, the report said. Extreme levels of poverty and lack of access to essential services such as healthcare and education were exacerbated by acts that amount to economic crimes perpetrated by members of the State apparatus.   Officials in the Government of South Sudan are implicated in the pillaging of public funds as well as money laundering, bribery and tax evasion, said Commission Chair Yasmin Sooka. High ranking officials have used their official positions to influence decisions on the allocation of State resources and official procurement, diverting public funds for personal gain and advantage.   The plundering of the public purse by officials is having a catastrophic impact on the humanitarian situation in South Sudan, leaving ordinary people food insecure. More than 55 per cent of the population, mainly women and children, face acute food insecurity due to the deliberate policy of preventing humanitarian aid from reaching civilians by different parties to the conflict. This is exacerbated by climate-induced factors and large-scale displacement because of the conflict.   Deliberate starvation is clearly occurring along ethnic and political lines, in an effort to marginalize dissident communities as well as those too disenfranchised to challenge the status quo because their day-to-day lives revolve around basic survival, said Commissioner Andrew Clapham, noting that deliberate starvation can constitute a war crime or a crime against humanity.   The revitalized peace process has led to a fragile peace at the national level in South Sudan, the conflict having shifted to an intensification of ethnic violence at a localized level. Of grave concern, the report noted, is the number brutal attacks involving cattle raiding by members of both the State apparatus and the opposition, resulting in alarming rates of displacement along ethnic lines, particularly in Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity and Jonglei States.   The Commission also received credible information that members of government forces armed local militias with light and heavy weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, so they could carry out brutal attacks against neighbouring communities, often during periods of cattle migration.   Although localized conflict is often characterized as traditional ethnic clashes over cattle or criminality involving private citizens, the Commission found that local militias aligned to the warring parties, including the government, benefited from personnel and weaponry, including military grade weapons, supplied by parties to the conflict.   Both government forces and the opposition continue to forcibly recruit men and boys in violation of International Humanitarian Law. The Commission documented incidents implicating eight separate units of both armed forces and armed groups recruiting, training and using children as young as 12 years old.   The recruitment of children is contrary to South Sudanese domestic law and treaty law, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, to which South Sudan acceded in September 2018.   Sexual and gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, continued to be widespread and pervasive, characterized by a recognizable pattern of terror and subjugation used as a tactic of war. Stigmatization of survivors, compounded by the lack of accountability for sexual and gender-based violations, remained a grave challenge.   Transitional justice is a critical response for achieving sustainable peace, national reconciliation and healing, and rebuilding the rule of law after decades of violent conflict.   The Commission called on the African Union and the Government of South Sudan to establish a timeline to set up the Hybrid Court of South Sudan and the other Transitional Justice instruments outlined in the Revitalized Peace Agreement without delay.   The Commission has continued to build dossiers on perpetrators and to collect and preserve evidence for future accountability processes, including the Hybrid Court for South Sudan and other transitional justice mechanisms. During this last year, it has identified additional alleged perpetrators whose names, and accompanying materials, will be presented in a confidential dossier to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.   This information will be made available to support future prosecutions before regional or national courts and tribunals upon request, and if certain conditions are fulfilled.   Entrenched impunity and a lack of accountability characterized by the persistent failure to address past and ongoing violations has been a key driver of violence in South Sudan, said Yasmin Sooka. Time and again we have been told by ordinary South Sudanese that accountability is essential for perpetrators to truly understand that what they are doing is wrong. Everybody understands that continued impunity will perpetuate violence. Visit the related web page
	Civilians fleeing Syria's long-term war continue to face terrifying violence by UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria   Mar. 2020 (UN News)   UN-appointed investigators on Monday warned that civilians fleeing Syria's long-term war continue to face terrifying violence that likely amounts to war crimes.   At the launch of their latest report into the conflict. the Independent International Commission of Inquiry described 'unprecedented levels of suffering and pain' inside the war-torn country.   Those arriving in displacement camps have struggled to find shelter amid freezing winter temperatures that have claimed around 10 children's lives, Commissioner Hanny Megally said.   'The people that are stuck at the border are suffering because of a lack of humanitarian assistance and children have been dying in the cold', he insisted. And it's not clear to me why the international community has not acted urgently to make sure that they are getting the humanitarian assistance they need.   After nearly nine years of war, human rights violations inside Syria have continued to multiply, according to the Commission of Inquiry, whose findings principally concern the period between 11 July 2019 and 10 January 2020.   There is a war crime of intentionally terrorising a population to force it to move and I think we're seeing that picture emerging very clearly for example in Idlib, Mr Megally said, amid repeated aerial and ground attacks on built-up areas that are protected in times of war.   The bigger pattern that we've been seeing is deliberate attacks on hospitals to put them out of commission and essentially in such a way as to force the population to move, he added.   Appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Commission of Inquiry report includes detailed information surrounding aerial bombardments on built-up areas including a crowded marketplace on 22 July in Maarat al Numan, and a displacement camp close to Haas on 16 August.   In the marketplace, it was attacked actually twice with what we call a double-tap, Mr Megally said, adding that 43 people were killed and 109 injured.. Russian planes were sighted above that area. In Haas, in south Idlib, a compound for the displaced, about 20 people were killed, eight women I think, six children.   Citing information that will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 10 March, he added that there were reasonable grounds to believe that these were Russian planes with Russian pilots.   Operation Peace Spring displaced 100,000 people   In early October, hostilities linked to the advance of Turkish forces in support of the opposition Syrian National Army (SNA) led to the displacement of more than 100,000 people, the Commission of Inquiry report stated.   Normally, you would want to be saying there's command and control - you know, evidence that they are either doing it under instructions or under orders from the power that's supporting them, Mr. Megally said. That's been something we couldn't find. But we felt that still Turkey should be feeling responsible for their actions, and, should at least be trying to prevent them from continuing to violate rights. http://bit.ly/2Tqn0tC   * Report of UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria: Unprecedented levels of displacement and dire conditions for civilians in the Syrian Arab Republic: http://bit.ly/3ajWIQL   Jan. 2020   Children in the Syrian Arab Republic have been robbed of their childhood as they are forced to participate in a brutal war and endure numerous violations of their rights by all parties to the conflict while remaining acutely vulnerable to violence and abuse, the Commission of Inquiry for Syria noted today in its latest report.   In a 25-page report released today, entitled 'They have erased the dreams of my children', the three-person Commission outlines the multiple rights violations children have been subjected to; including over five million children displaced internally and abroad and how boys and girls have been robbed of their childhood over the course of the brutal eight and a half-year war.   I am appalled by the flagrant disregard for the laws of war and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by all parties involved in the conflict, said Commission of Inquiry Chair Paulo Pinheiro. While the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has the primary responsibility for the protection of boys and girls in the country, all of the actors in this conflict must do more to protect children and preserve the country's future generation, he noted.   Children have been killed and maimed, and subjected to myriad violations by warring parties, states the report, which covers the period between September 2011 to the end of October 2019.   On multiple occasions, pro-Government forces used cluster munitions, thermobaric bombs and chemical weapons causing scores of child casualties. Rape and sexual violence have been used repeatedly against men, women, boys and girls as a tool to punish, humiliate and instil fear among communities. Government forces have detained boys as young as 12, subjecting them to severe beatings and torture.   The devastating situation of education in Syria is particularly highlighted as an area of concern.   Since the start of the conflict thousands of schools have been destroyed or used for military purposes and more than 2.1 million boys and girls are not regularly attending classes of any form.   Urgent efforts are required by the Syrian Government to support as many children as possible to return to education, noted Commissioner Karen AbuZayd. Armed groups holding territory also need to act with haste to facilitate access to education, she added.   Armed groups targeted schools and used educational facilities for military purposes. Children were detained and used as bargaining chips for prisoner swaps or to extract ransom. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists recruited and used boys to fight on the frontlines. At its peak, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) subjected girls as young as nine to rape and sexual slavery.   Boys, meanwhile, were given military training and routinely exposed to extreme violence, including witnessing public executions or forced into the role of executor.   The impact of the conflict on the long-term physical and mental health of boys and girls has been severe. Today, large numbers of children suffer from disabilities as well as devastating psychological and development issues. The report also outlines how over five million children have been displaced by conflict and have become increasingly vulnerable to violations.   The Commission urges States to ensure the protection of displaced children, particularly with regard to the obligations upon all States to repatriate children with familial links to ISIL fighters.   States have well defined obligations to protect children, including from statelessness. Failing to abide by such fundamental principles would be a clear derogation of duty, noted Commissioner Hanny Megally.   Among the recommendations to the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic and other key actors aimed to improve the protection of children in the Syrian Arab Republic, the Commission urges parties to respect the special protection children are entitled to under international humanitarian and human rights law and to ensure accountability for violations that have occurred. The Commission also makes a series of recommendations aimed at increasing the support for children who have suffered abuses. Visit the related web page
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