UN report details 'horrendous' human rights abuses in South Sudan

[rousseau]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Glob...horrendous-human-rights-abuses-in-South-Sudan

As war in South Sudan goes on, thousands of people are subject to harassment, detention, displacement, and death by soldiers.

But a disturbing new United Nations report sheds light on the magnitude and severity of the problem. The report details a multitude of human rights violations, including the deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians and accounts of widespread rape of women and children by South Sudanese soldiers and armed militias.

The UN report says that South Sudan faces "one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world," and singles out the government as having played the significant role in the atrocities.

“Crimes against humanity and war crimes have continued into 2015, and they have been predominantly perpetrated by the government,” said David Marshall, the coordinator of a UN assessment team, in an interview that was videotaped in South Sudan and released Friday, according to The New York Times.

"The quantity of rapes and gang-rapes described in the report must only be a snapshot of the real total," Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement, according to the Times. "This is one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world, with massive use of rape as an instrument of terror and weapon of war, yet it has been more or less off the international radar."

About 1,300 rapes were recorded between April and September 2015. Women across all ages including young children were subject to multiple rapes, while others were kidnapped, raped and then killed, according to the Times.

“The message to the South Sudan government should be clear: It must investigate the allegations against its soldiers and hold them accountable,” Stephen Lamony, a senior advisor with the Coalition for the International Criminal Court tells the Christian Science Monitor.

“Women and children should not be used as a weapon of war.”

Mr. Hussein called for additional sanctions against the oil-rich nation. He also recommended that the cases be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if the government fails to hold the accused soldiers accountable, The Associated Press reported.

But the ICC cannot prosecute the accused because South Sudan isn’t a signatory of the court.

“In principle, the ICC has no jurisdiction and cannot investigate what is happening in South Sudan, unless there would be a request by the Security Council under Chapter Seven, which then would put an obligation on South Sudan to cooperate with the ICC and then the ICC can investigate,” Fadi El-Abdallah, a spokesman for the ICC, told Voice of America.

The South Sudan government would need to ask the ICC to intervene, and take over the case, Mr. Lamony says.

Yet that isn’t likely to happen, largely because of the skeptical view that the majority of African governments have towards the ICC. Several African leader have accused the ICC of being biased and targeting African leaders.

"If the ICC can't prosecute then the government must make sure it holds the soldiers accountable for their crimes," says Lamony.

Thought I'd try to steer the politics section a little outside the normal American politics arena. I don't have any political comments on this article, but am posting because I can't look away. The analytical part of me finds that this is happening fascinating.

1) Why, specifically, are so many people being raped?
2) Is the situation typical of what society looks like under absolute anarchy, or something else?
3) What is the back-story of this country? How did it get this bad?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Glob...horrendous-human-rights-abuses-in-South-Sudan

As war in South Sudan goes on, thousands of people are subject to harassment, detention, displacement, and death by soldiers.

But a disturbing new United Nations report sheds light on the magnitude and severity of the problem. The report details a multitude of human rights violations, including the deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians and accounts of widespread rape of women and children by South Sudanese soldiers and armed militias.

The UN report says that South Sudan faces "one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world," and singles out the government as having played the significant role in the atrocities.

“Crimes against humanity and war crimes have continued into 2015, and they have been predominantly perpetrated by the government,” said David Marshall, the coordinator of a UN assessment team, in an interview that was videotaped in South Sudan and released Friday, according to The New York Times.

"The quantity of rapes and gang-rapes described in the report must only be a snapshot of the real total," Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement, according to the Times. "This is one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world, with massive use of rape as an instrument of terror and weapon of war, yet it has been more or less off the international radar."

About 1,300 rapes were recorded between April and September 2015. Women across all ages including young children were subject to multiple rapes, while others were kidnapped, raped and then killed, according to the Times.

“The message to the South Sudan government should be clear: It must investigate the allegations against its soldiers and hold them accountable,” Stephen Lamony, a senior advisor with the Coalition for the International Criminal Court tells the Christian Science Monitor.

“Women and children should not be used as a weapon of war.”

Mr. Hussein called for additional sanctions against the oil-rich nation. He also recommended that the cases be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if the government fails to hold the accused soldiers accountable, The Associated Press reported.

But the ICC cannot prosecute the accused because South Sudan isn’t a signatory of the court.

“In principle, the ICC has no jurisdiction and cannot investigate what is happening in South Sudan, unless there would be a request by the Security Council under Chapter Seven, which then would put an obligation on South Sudan to cooperate with the ICC and then the ICC can investigate,” Fadi El-Abdallah, a spokesman for the ICC, told Voice of America.

The South Sudan government would need to ask the ICC to intervene, and take over the case, Mr. Lamony says.

Yet that isn’t likely to happen, largely because of the skeptical view that the majority of African governments have towards the ICC. Several African leader have accused the ICC of being biased and targeting African leaders.

"If the ICC can't prosecute then the government must make sure it holds the soldiers accountable for their crimes," says Lamony.

Thought I'd try to steer the politics section a little outside the normal American politics arena. I don't have any political comments on this article, but am posting because I can't look away. The analytical part of me finds that this is happening fascinating.

1) Why, specifically, are so many people being raped?
2) Is the situation typical of what society looks like under absolute anarchy, or something else?
3) What is the back-story of this country? How did it get this bad?

South Sudan was split off from Sudan to avoid the ethnic cleansing that had been going on. Drawing a border on the ground didn't really change things that much.

 

[rousseau]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Glob...horrendous-human-rights-abuses-in-South-Sudan



Thought I'd try to steer the politics section a little outside the normal American politics arena. I don't have any political comments on this article, but am posting because I can't look away. The analytical part of me finds that this is happening fascinating.

1) Why, specifically, are so many people being raped?
2) Is the situation typical of what society looks like under absolute anarchy, or something else?
3) What is the back-story of this country? How did it get this bad?

South Sudan was split off from Sudan to avoid the ethnic cleansing that had been going on. Drawing a border on the ground didn't really change things that much.

Yea, who would have guessed that a border in a lawless nation wouldn't have much effect.

As morbid as it sounds, I'm mostly interested in the rape aspect of this story, specifically what resulted in systemic and intentional mass raping of women throughout the country from something of a materialist perspective.

Setting the obvious horror of rape aside, it's interesting to me that given an atmosphere devoid of lawlessness, social structure, and I'm assuming many educated people, somehow it became thousands of men's first instinct to have sex with as many women as possible.

I have to wonder if there's something sub-conscious at play, like an internal drive that results in this type of thing when unregulated.

 

[rousseau]

Just did some quick reading, and it actually sounds like mass raping is a means of torture, and causing social disruption through pregnancy.

I wonder if there's any element of it that's 'we just want to rape as many women as possible'.

 

[Rhea]

Wasn't this also the tactic of Genghis Khan's empire building? A combination of the immediate torture/subjugation plus the ethnic cleansing that results from turning the genetic tide against its will.

This report is horrifying. I'm interested to look further to see what is or can be done to stop it.

 

[rousseau]

Wasn't this also the tactic of Genghis Khan's empire building? A combination of the immediate torture/subjugation plus the ethnic cleansing that results from turning the genetic tide against its will.

This report is horrifying. I'm interested to look further to see what is or can be done to stop it.

Yea you have to wonder what the politics are behind a situation like this. I'm way too under-educated on international relations to know why there doesn't seem to be any intervention, but I'd assume if it was something easy to fix it'd already be happening.

As far as I can tell the middle-eastern/sub-saharan african regions just need more time to naturally develop.

 

[Rhea]

As far as I can tell the middle-eastern/sub-saharan african regions just need more time to naturally develop.

Part of me says yes, and part of me asks if we can morally "wait' for that without making it happen by international consensus.

 

[rousseau]

As far as I can tell the middle-eastern/sub-saharan african regions just need more time to naturally develop.

Part of me says yes, and part of me asks if we can morally "wait' for that without making it happen by international consensus.

Yea, that's the ideal.

 

[Axulus]

South Sudan was split off from Sudan to avoid the ethnic cleansing that had been going on. Drawing a border on the ground didn't really change things that much.

Yea, who would have guessed that a border in a lawless nation wouldn't have much effect.

As morbid as it sounds, I'm mostly interested in the rape aspect of this story, specifically what resulted in systemic and intentional mass raping of women throughout the country from something of a materialist perspective.

Setting the obvious horror of rape aside, it's interesting to me that given an atmosphere devoid of lawlessness, social structure, and I'm assuming many educated people, somehow it became thousands of men's first instinct to have sex with as many women as possible.

I have to wonder if there's something sub-conscious at play, like an internal drive that results in this type of thing when unregulated.

The rape mostly has to do with the usual aspects of tribalism in war, to spread fear to your enemy and to collectively punish them for alleged and real wrongs members of the other side did to you. Also, for some, as a "reward" for defeating the enemy.

 

[J842P]

South Sudan was split off from Sudan to avoid the ethnic cleansing that had been going on. Drawing a border on the ground didn't really change things that much.

Yea, who would have guessed that a border in a lawless nation wouldn't have much effect.

As morbid as it sounds, I'm mostly interested in the rape aspect of this story, specifically what resulted in systemic and intentional mass raping of women throughout the country from something of a materialist perspective.

Setting the obvious horror of rape aside, it's interesting to me that given an atmosphere devoid of lawlessness, social structure, and I'm assuming many educated people, somehow it became thousands of men's first instinct to have sex with as many women as possible.

I have to wonder if there's something sub-conscious at play, like an internal drive that results in this type of thing when unregulated.

Rape is an old weapon of war. It serves to demoralize, terrorize, and "breed-out" the opposition. Also, the propensity towards rape increases when you have an enemy to hate.