UN Report on South Sudan: Rape of Women in Exchange for Wages

The United Nations described the human rights situation in South Sudan as "horrific" on Friday, March 11, stating that militants in the country are permitted to rape women instead of receiving wages and benefits. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, the UN's report emphasizes that human rights violations in South Sudan are occurring on a scale that could be considered a war crime. The UN report references evidence showing that fighters affiliated with militia and paramilitary forces fighting alongside the Sudan People's Liberation Army receive their wages and benefits under an unwritten contract that states, "Do whatever you want and take whatever you want." The report indicates that as a result of this contract, many young men raid family herds, steal personal property, and abduct and rape women and young girls instead of receiving wages. It is also reported that individuals who support opposition groups, including children, are burned alive or hanged from trees and dismembered. Both the government and opposition groups in South Sudan are accused of ethnic massacres, killing children, and military exploitation of them, widespread sexual violence, torture, and forcing people to flee their homes. The UN report coincides with a report from Amnesty International, which states that the South Sudanese government deliberately imprisoned sixty men and boys in a sealed container until they suffocated. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but fell into civil war in 2013 after a coup by the Vice President against the President, leading to clashes between the government forces of Salva Kiir, the President, and rebels loyal to Riek Machar, the Vice President. However, a peace agreement was signed this summer between the warring parties, which has been violated multiple times since. In February of this year, Salva Kiir announced that after two years of civil war, he would appoint his rival Riek Machar as his Vice President. Thousands have been killed in the South Sudan conflict, and around two million people have been displaced.