United States Department of State
19 April 2013
South Sudan is a republic operating under a transitional constitution signed into law upon declaration of independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011. The country was led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, whose authority derives from his 2010 election as president of what was then the semiautonomous region of Southern Sudan within the Republic of Sudan. While the 2010 Sudan-wide elections did not wholly meet international standards, international observers believed that Kiir’s election reflected the popular will of a large majority of Southern Sudan. International observers considered the January 2011 referendum on South Sudanese self-determination, in which 98 percent of voters chose to break from Sudan, to be free and fair. President Kiir is a founding member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) political party, whose representatives control all but four of the 29 ministries, 298 of 332 seats in the National Assembly, and nine of 10 state governorships. The parliament was weak and dominated by the ruling party. There were instances throughout the year in which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan after a 20-year civil war. Sudan continued to support some rebel militia groups (RMGs) in South Sudan, which led to conflict and human rights abuses.
The three most serious human rights problems in the country were security force abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, intimidation, and other inhumane treatment of civilians; lack of access to justice, including arbitrary arrest, prolonged pretrial detention, and corruption within the justice sector; and conflict-related abuses, including continuing abuse and displacement of civilians as a result of fighting between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces, RMGs opposing the government, and rival ethnic communities. Conflict-related abuses occurred primarily along the border between Sudan and South Sudan and in the states of Upper Nile, Jonglei, Unity, and Warrap.
Other human rights problems included abductions related to intercommunal conflict, harsh prison conditions, and government restriction of freedoms of privacy, speech, press, assembly, and association. Displaced persons were abused and harassed. Corruption among government officials was pervasive. The government restricted the movement of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and NGO workers were sometimes attacked and harassed. Violence and discrimination against women and children by government actors and within communities were widespread. While there were no reports of child soldier recruitment by the security forces, RMGs operating against the government continued the practice throughout the year. Trafficking in persons, discrimination and violence against selected ethnic groups, governmental incitement of tribal violence, and child labor, including forced labor, also occurred.
Security force abuses occurred around the country, especially in areas subject to ethnic conflict, RMG activity, or civil unrest. The government seldom took steps to punish military or civilian officials who committed abuses, and impunity was a major problem.
Attacks in South Sudanese territory by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) resulted in deaths, injuries, property destruction, and civilian displacement in border areas, while attacks by RMGs affected parts of Jonglei, Upper Nile, and Eastern Equatoria states as well as border areas with Sudan. RMGs occasionally obstructed the delivery of humanitarian assistance. While the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was not reported to have killed or abducted civilians in South Sudan during the year, displacements resulting from LRA activity in prior years continued to affect communities in Western Equatoria State.
Read full report here.