A/HRC/40/CRP.1
families resulting in the rapist paying a bride price to the family of the survivor and marrying
the victim, compounding the distress and injury of the victim rather than remedying it. 1551
Furthermore, there remains a large gap between reports of sexual violence
documented by human rights bodies such as the UNMISS Human Rights Division or this
Commission and the number of formal prosecutions for sexual violence. In 2016, the most
recent year for which statistics are available, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional
Affairs recorded 255 sexual and gender-based crimes cases which resulted in 45 convictions,
including 147 rape cases, which resulted in 25 convictions.1552
The 2016 figures are skewed downwards as the court system as a whole recorded
fewer cases that year as a result of the fighting that broke out in July. There was a large
reduction in cases processed in part because judicial services largely ground to a halt in the
second half of the year and in part because the security situation, including massive levels of
displacement, was not conducive to people reporting crimes.1553 At the same time, however,
the crisis also resulted in high levels of sexual violence being perpetrated and the drop in
recorded cases suggests that there has been little or no accountability for these crimes. In this
regard, the Commission notes that the UNMISS Human Rights Division documented 217
victims of sexual violence including rape and gang rape committed in Juba between 8 and
25 July 2016 alone.1554
Of concern is the fact that, in addition to the relatively small numbers of sexual and
gender-based violence cases which are prosecuted in the formal justice system (rape cases
made up two percent of all cases in 2016), they also have a significantly lower conviction
rate than other crimes. In 2016, the overall conviction rate was 82 percent. However, for
sexual and gender-based violence cases, the conviction rate was only 18 percent.1555 The
reasons behind this discrepancy merit further investigation.
Nonetheless, a promising development is the initiative to set up a specialised court
within the national justice system to focus on sexual and gender-based crimes. Following
interviews with the national justice sector in 2017, UNMISS Rule of Law Advisory Section
found that adequate legal and structural frameworks exist to support the investigation and
prosecution of conflict-related crimes against women and children, including those
committed by police and soldiers, and that there is willingness on the part of several senior
officials to support the establishment of dedicated units to do so. 1556
Accordingly, a building within the Juba Courts Compound has been refurbished to
house a specialised court to facilitate linking all the elements of investigation and prosecution
more effectively. The building has sections for victim support, prosecution, and police. The
specialised sexual and gender-based violence court is located in close proximity to the “OneStop-Shop” Family Protection Centre in the Juba teaching hospital which provides survivors
of sexual violence with a range of services including medical, psychosocial and legal support.
The Court’s inauguration is expected to take place in early 2019.
What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Consortium, “No safe Place: A lifetime of violence for conflictaffected women and girls in South Sudan”, 2017.
1552 Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Case Management Report 2016. This included 147 rape cases, of which
25 resulted in convictions, 93 cases of kidnapping or abducting to compel marriage of which 18 resulted in convictions, 12 cases
of enticing or detaining a married women, resulting in one conviction; two cases prosecutions for female genital mutilation which
did not result in convictions; and one case of coercing or inducing someone for the purposes of engaging in sexual conduct,
which resulted in a conviction.
1553 By way of comparison, in 2015, 320 cases of rape were prosecuted—more than double the number prosecuted in 2016. See
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Case Management Report 2015. Furthermore it should be noted that these figures
are incomplete as they only include statistics from Eastern Equatoria, Central Equatoria, Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal,
Warrap and Jonglei states. No statistics from Unity, Upper Nile, Western Equatoria and Lakes states are included.
1554 OHCHR/UNMISS, A Report on Violations and Abuses of International Human Rights Law and Violations of International
Humanitarian Law in the Context of the Fighting in Juba, South Sudan in July 2016, January 2017.
1555 Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Case Management Report 2016.
1556 Interviews with UNMISS Rule of Law Advisory section.
1551
197
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents