In its resolution 31/20 of 23 March 2016, the Human Rights Council established the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for a period of one year, and requested the Commission to, inter alia, monitor and report on the situation of human rights in South Sudan to make recommendations for its improvement, and to assess past reports on the situation of human rights since December 2013, in order to establish a factual basis for transitional justice and reconciliation.
In its resolution 31/20 of 23 March 2016, the Human Rights Council established the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for a period of one year, and requested the Commission to, inter alia, monitor and report on the situation of human rights in South Sudan to make recommendations for its improvement, and to assess past reports on the situation of human rights since December 2013, in order to establish a factual basis for transitional justice and reconciliation.
The Commission was supported by a secretariat of fourteen professional staff based in Juba and Addis Ababa, consisting of human rights investigators, legal and gender advisers, forensic and military experts, a coordinator and security and administrative officers. The first member of the secretariat was deployed on 15 August 2017 and the secretariat was fully deployed as of 28 October 2017.
The Commission chose to focus on incidents that are emblematic of crimes and violations committed during the past two years, during which there was limited reporting. This report examines recent incidents in the former states of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Upper Nile, and seeks to clarify responsibility, as far as possible, for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes committed in those locations during 2016 and 2017.