A/HRC/40/CRP.1 and participation in meetings. Similarly, the new Commander of the SPLA 4 Division in Bentiu would have had to have been involved in the planning of an offensive of this scale involving troops under his command. There is further evidence that the Brigadier General SPLA commander based in Leer participated in planning meetings for the offensive. The Commission was also able to identify on the basis of multiple witnesses’ testimonies that the SPLA-IO (TD) commander based in Kuergini, Gany County Commissioner, and two SPLA Brigadier General commanders were present leading their troops on the ground during the attacks. There are, therefore, reasonable grounds to believe that they were ordering and participating in the commission of these attacks, or in the alternative at the least aiding and abetting them. Further, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the SPLA 4 Division Commander, the two Brigadier General SPLA commanders, SPLA-IO (TD) commander based in Kuergini, and the Gany County Commissioner may bear command responsibility for having failed to take reasonable and necessary measures to prevent or punish the crimes committed by their subordinates under their effective control in the course of the offensive. In this regard, the Commission notes that the offensive was an organised and systematic one carried out across multiple fronts each led by particular commanders. The Commission found no evidence that suggests that normal military command and control had broken down. Accordingly, it finds reasonable grounds to believe that these commanders were exercising effective control over their troops at the relevant time. Furthermore, as a planned operation, whose goals included attacks on the civilian population to displace them, accompanied by the fact that a number of the commanders were present on the ground when the attacks were taking place, there are reasonable grounds to believe that these commanders knew that their soldiers were committing the crimes. The Commission also considers that the commanders failed to take reasonable and necessary measures to prevent the brutal attacks on civilians. To the contrary, the fact that the Gany County Commissioner promised his militia that they could keep the cows and property they pillaged and the women they abducted as wives in the course of the operation indicates that, rather than trying to prevent these crimes, he instead instigated them. Similarly, the Commission has received no information that reasonable and necessary measures were taken to punish those responsible. It has received no information of criminal or court martial investigations or prosecutions against the perpetrators, nor of any Presidential or State investigations. Indeed, one State official confirmed as much to the Commission, indicating that there were no judges available but that some measures were being taken to bring perpetrators before customary courts.1182 While the customary justice system provides an important forum for compensation and recourse, it is not a suitable forum for adjudication of serious criminal cases, including in particular horrendous sexual crimes against women and children. The Gany County Commissioner was reportedly removed from his post following the offensive. However, multiple sources have indicated that he has returned to the military and remains active in Unity State.1183 The Commission also received information that one of the SPLA Brigadier General Commanders who participated in the offensive was promoted following the offensive but it has been unable to confirm this.1184 The promotion of commanders who were present on the ground leading the offensive runs directly contrary to the requirement to punish those responsible. b) State Responsibility As the SPLA are government forces, their violations of human rights give rise to state responsibility on the part of the Republic of South Sudan. Furthermore, the evidence collected by the Commission provides reasonable grounds to believe that the SPLA-IO (TD) were acting in complete dependence on the SPLA, or at least of the Government, during the offensive. As such, state responsibility may also apply to their acts. In any event, the Government has a duty to investigate and prosecute these alleged violations of international 1182 Confidential Meeting, 4 October 2018. Confidential Meeting, Bentiu, 21 September 2018; Witness 823, ERN 101653-101658. 1184 Witness 873, ERN 101648-101652, para. 6. 1183 151