A/HRC/45/CRP.4 I. Introduction 1. Since June 2011, South Sudan’s brief history as a newly independent State has been characterised by persistent inter-ethnic conflict fuelled by political contestation for control over the country’s oil and mineral resources; factionalism, nepotism, and patronage in government appointments; weak governance institutions; and impunity for grave human rights violations and crimes committed since the pre-independence civil war. In December 2013, internal strife within the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party triggered renewed conflict, which began with fighting between rebel factions and the State’s military forces in the capital city Juba, and steadily spiralled into protracted, ethnic-based armed conflict across the country. The conflict has resulted in mass atrocities and gross human rights violations committed against South Sudanese civilians, both by the State and its allies as well as by opposition forces, including mass killings, enforced disappearances and abductions, rape, sexual slavery, torture, forced displacements, and has triggered a devastating humanitarian crisis. 2. In response to the conflict, the African Union Peace and Security Council mandated a Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan (AUCISS), “to investigate the human rights violations and other abuses committed during the armed conflict in South Sudan” and propose measures to “ensure accountability, reconciliation and healing among all South Sudanese communities”. The AUCISS established that the conflict merely unearthed deep divisions and persisting resentment within the South Sudanese society. It concluded that the prevailing situation necessitated the disclosure of truth, acknowledgement, justice, and accountability for past abuses and conflict-related violations, in order to achieve healing, reconciliation, and sustainable peace in South Sudan.1 3. Drawing on extensive views from South Sudanese civilians, the AUCISS made recommendations for the establishment of an African-led, owned, and resourced legal mechanism, to be overseen by the African Union and to pursue accountability against individuals at the highest level and bearing greatest responsibility for the 2013 conflictrelated war crimes and crimes against humanity; reforms within the civil and military justice system to support complementary national-level accountability processes; establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission; creation of a national reparation fund and programme to provide both interim and comprehensive remedies to affected victims; enhanced and inclusive humanitarian assistance, including support to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees to return to their homes; and strengthen state-building measures, including decentralisation and devolution of political power, equitable allocation of natural and financial resources, well balanced separation of powers between the executive, legislature, and judiciary, and comprehensive security sector reforms within the army and police.2 4. The findings of the AUCISS generated the impetus for the inclusion of transitional justice, national healing, and reconciliation measures in the mediation process between the warring parties – led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) – which resulted in the drafting of Chapter V of the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) and the Revitalised Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in September 2018 (R-ARCSS). 5. Chapter V of the R-ARCSS provides a framework for addressing the legacy of conflict-related human rights and international humanitarian law violations in South Sudan. 3 It acknowledges the importance of criminal accountability and the critical purpose it serves in curbing war crimes and limiting the proliferation of atrocity crimes. Recognising the limitations in the criminal justice system and the fact that the judicial system has been decimated by the civil war, however, Chapter V provides for complementary institutions to a Hybrid Court, including the establishment of a Commission on Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing (CTRH), and Compensation and Reparations Authority (CRA). 1 African Union, Final Report of the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan, 15 October 2014. AUCISS, Final Report, Chapter V, Conclusion: Findings and Recommendations, at p. 275-304. 3 The 2018 R-ARCSS reflects the provisions of the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS), save for minor adjustments on the timelines set out for establishment of the three mechanisms. 2 3