By Kidega Livingstone
Government has rejected the findings of the Human Rights Commission report, which accuses the country of widespread human rights abuses, labeling it “misleading” and “baseless”.
According to the report, the Human Rights Commission highlighted the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in South Sudan.
However, government officials challenged these claims, demanding concrete evidence and questioning the alleged scale of such abuses.
During a press conference, Amb. Anthony Kon, the Director General for Multilateral Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation argued that the allegations lacked credibility and failed to align with the reality experienced by South Sudanese citizens.
“This meant that most women and girls in South Sudan are sexually abused, and it depicts men in South Sudan as rapists who molest their women and girls. They have to come and tell us the number of women being raped on a large scale and where,” Kon said.
“The report does not make logic on how women in the major cities and under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan can be raped by the SSPDF and the SPLA-IO at the same time. And why is such a situation not being reported in Juba and other parts of South Sudan? These allegations do not make sense to any South Sudanese and therefore are a fabrication,” he added.
In the report, the Human Rights Commission reported the recruitment of children in the Army
However, Amb. Kon asserted that no children could be found in the barracks or cantonments as alleged.
He attributed this to the efforts of the Directorate of Child Protection in the Army, with support from UNICEF, in releasing all children from military facilities and reuniting them with their families.
For his part, Lawrence Loro Kamilo, the Senior Legal Counselor from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, accused the Human Rights Commission of interfering in the country’s sovereignty and mixing political issues with human rights concerns.
He dismissed the report as mere “cutting and pasting” of recycled information and emphasized that South Sudan has functioning rule of law institutions, including military and police courts.
“There was violence that took place in this country, especially at the time the commission was established, which is exactly recycled again today. The same way of writing the report has been repeated in this same report, which is “cutting and pasting. “They have nothing to report as serious,” he said.
“The issue of the victims being sexually abused is not indicating the area where this thing has happened, but they are only giving an example like in Pibor, Bentiu, and Jonglei: how many women were being raped during incidents of intercommunal violence, how many women were abducted, and how many women are made to be sexually abused? Nothing.”
He stated that South Sudan should be treated as an equal member of the international community and emphasized that the government has taken steps to address human rights concerns.
The report also highlighted the lack of accountability for grave violations in South Sudan, including widespread attacks on civilians, sexual violence against women and girls, the use of child soldiers, and extrajudicial killings.
The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, an independent body established by the United Nations Human Rights Council, said it conducted interviews with victims and stakeholders to gather information for their reports and recommendations.
The Commission is also mandated to determine and report the facts and circumstances of human rights violations and abuses, including by clarifying responsibility for crimes under national and/or international law.