A/HRC/45/CRP.4 • Measures should be taken to ensure that transitional justice processes cover all affected geographic locations and victims, including opposition-controlled territories, as well as violations committed both by State security and non-State armed groups throughout the country. • Transitional justice measures should also pay attention to the antecedents and causes of the 2013 conflict, including historical injustices and systemic marginalization, as well as ongoing conflict and violations in parts of South Sudan and within internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugee camps. • Traditional justice mechanisms and customary practices are highly valued in South Sudanese society, and should, to the greatest extent possible, be pursued to contribute to truth-telling, reconciliation, healing, reparation, and accountability. Participants noted that restoration of traditional authority to the esteemed position it occupied prior to the conflict may be a form of guarantee of non-recurrence of conflict and related abuses that violated established sociocultural norms. • Further, whereas a Hybrid Court is anticipated, there should be continuous exploration of other potential avenues for broader accountability through national courts, including enhanced capacity and reforms within the justice sector. Participants emphasised the need for key actors to also focus their attention on other aspects of Chapter V, besides the Hybrid Court. • South Sudanese further want to see an inclusive, complementary process that includes various aspects of transitional justice including truth-seeking, reparation (including redistributive and restorative justice), and reforms, rather than an exclusive focus on retributive justice. Inclusive and locally driven 27. One key element Commissioner Afako presented on was local ownership. He advised that transitional justice measures must resonate with the experiences, needs, and priorities of South Sudanese citizens and conflict-affected victims/survivors and communities. Implementation of the R-ARCSS and transitional justice measures should not be viewed or driven as an external, imposed, elitist, technical, or political agenda, devoid of the people’s views and expectations. Inclusion and buy-in of South Sudanese in all segments of society, including rural areas, uneducated citizens, women, marginalised communities, and those in opposition, is essential for the effective design and successful implementation of transitional justice processes and measures in South Sudan. 28. Additionally, participants agreed that a sense of ownership and buy-in into transitional justice processes by the general population can also contribute to addressing unhealed trauma resulting from marginalisation and cycles of violence from one generation to the next. Moreover, South Sudanese must be effectively positioned to steer transitional justice processes long after external actors depart. 29. The proposed action to be taken is to encourage State actors and civil society organisations to initiate robust public awareness campaigns to enhance the South Sudanese citizens’ understanding of the R-ARCSS and anticipated transitional justice measures, and reflect on strategies to promote meaningful inclusion and participation of ordinary citizens in transitional justice discourses. Gender sensitive 30. It will be imperative to incorporate a gender lens during the conceptualisation, implementation, and monitoring of all transitional justice mechanisms. This will require that deliberate policies, measures, and technical capacities are put in place to identify distinct ways in which women, men, boys, and girls have experienced the conflict and its consequences; and address pre-existing gender-based inequalities that caused or exacerbated violations or that continue to pose obstacles to the effective participation of either gender in anticipated truth-seeking, accountability, reparation, reconciliation, and healing processes. 31. During deliberations, Esther Ikere Eluzai Ladu from the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare agreed, and further reiterated that the Government will be committed to the R-TGoNU ensuring strict adherence to the requirement in the R-ARCSS for 35 per cent 33