A/HRC/40/CRP.1 property, plunder and committing any offence against the property or person of any inhabitant or resident of a country in which he or she is serving. Furthermore, the Commission finds reasonable grounds to believe that there was a nexus between the commission of these crimes and the non-international armed conflict that was ongoing in South Sudan at the time, because they occurred in the context of the SPLAorganized offensive against the SPLA-IO (RM) in Leer and Mayendit Counties. As such, they are violations of international humanitarian law under Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II to which South Sudan is a party and which it has implemented in its Geneva Convention Act (2012). They should also be investigated and prosecuted as war crimes under Article 4(a) (violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder, as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment), 4(e) (outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault), and Article 4(f) (pillage) of the Draft Statute of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. The Commission also finds reasonable grounds to believe that the killing of civilians, rape and sexual violence, destruction of private property and pillage in Leer and Mayendit Counties was part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. The attacks were systematic as they appear to have formed part of a planned attack against the civilian population of Leer and Mayendit Counties. This is supported by the evidence that superiors encouraged pillage and the “taking of wives” by the forces as payment for their services as well as by the evidence that part of the aim of the attack was to displace and terrorize the civilian population. Furthermore, the attacks were widespread as they occurred in over 40 villages over the course of a two month period. As such, they should be investigated and prosecuted as crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and sexual violence, and other inhumane acts under Article 3 of the Statue of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. b) Intentionally Directing Attacks against the Civilian Population, Organizations using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, and Humanitarian Organizations Based on the evidence collected and reviewed, the Commission finds reasonable grounds to believe that the SPLA, SPLA-IO (TD) and affiliated militia intentionally directed attacks against the civilian population. While some places attacked had SPLA-IO (RM) forces in them and involved fighting between opposing forces, such as Thonyor which was the SPLA-IO (RM) headquarters in Leer County, many of the villages and homesteads clearly had no opposition forces present in them at the time of the attacks. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians is prohibited by Article 13(2) of Additional Protocol II and section 7 of the South Sudan Geneva Convention Act (2012). Directing attacks against the civilian population is a crime under Article 5(a) of the Draft Statute of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. Even where attacks may have been legitimate military operations against an SPLA-IO (RM) presence, the evidence provides reasonable grounds to believe that there was an utter failure by the SPLA, SPLA-IO (TD) and affiliated militias to adhere to the fundamental international humanitarian law principle of distinction, such that the attacks amount to a violation of the customary international law prohibition of indiscriminate attacks.1178 Beyond this, however, the Commission takes particular note of one well-placed witness’s assertion that “The aim was to terrorise civilians by all means”. The gratuitously brutal nature of the attacks corroborates the apparent aim of terrorising the civilian population and indicates that these crimes should be investigated and prosecuted as ‘acts of terrorism’ as a war crime under Article 4(d) of the Statute of Hybrid Court.1179 1178 1179 ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, Rule 11. Article 4(d) of the Draft Statute of the Hybrid Court refers to “acts of terrorism” as a war crime. This crime is also included as a war crime in the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Article 3(d)). The Appeals Chamber of the SCSL considered that this crime was intended to reflect the crime of acts of terrorism under Article 13(2) of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions and concluded that the elements of the crime were: (i) Acts or threats of violence; (ii) That the offender willfully 149