A/HRC/40/CRP.1 Furthermore, there are reasonable grounds to believe that NSS officials in charge or employed in the facilities knew or had reason to know of the actions of their subordinates toward detainees. This is particularly the case for detention facilities run by the NSS at the Blue House as it is the NSS headquarters with senior officials’ offices located in the same compound, and, prior to December 2015, in the same building. In this regard, the Commission further notes that the detention conditions and ill-treatment of detainees has continued for at least five years since December 2013, making it even less likely that NSS officials could be unaware of the situation. Even allowing for the apparently regular rotation of Directors and Deputy Directors in the facilities, and occasional changes in their duties and responsibilities, these officials clearly knew the dire conditions prevailing in the detention centres and the frequent occurrence of torture and ill-treatment, some of which happened in their own offices, 478 or with their participation. Such conduct clearly contravenes the National Security Services Act (2014), which stipulates that NSS members must respect “the dignity and self-esteem of human beings and protect human rights”. 479 For example, the Commission was told that one of the Directors of Detention at the Blue House, a Major, personally whipped a detainee, and made another detainee watch the ill-treatment in an apparent act of intimidation. Similarly, it could not have escaped his notice that his office was being regularly used to ill-treated detainees, and when one detainee reported that he had been ill-treated by a (named) NSS guard, he failed to take action. This same Major was clearly aware of the inadequate and inhuman conditions of detention, including the lack of adequate medical care, at the Blue House, as detainees raised this with him, but were rebuked or ridiculed by him for doing so. Furthermore, as a senior official in charge of detention, this Major would have been aware of the enforced disappearance of prisoners in his custody, and should have instigated prompt investigations into such occurrences. However, he apparently failed to take such action, even when directly requested to do so by the family of a detainee, who was taken from his cell by NSS officers and subsequently disappeared. The Commission is also aware of allegations that this Major was accused of having committed crimes before he started working at the Blue House, which, if true, might have disqualified him from employment in the NSS.480 Other NSS officials in charge of detainees at the Blue House reportedly ill-treated persons in their custody, for example a 2nd Lieutenant, who was one of the Directors of Detention Facilities, whipped a detainee, while in the presence of his superior officer, the Director of Detention, a 1st Lieutenant. During the time these officers were in charge, detainees were frequently and serious ill-treated, without receiving medical treatment afterwards. In addition, a 2nd Lieutenant who was reportedly Director of Detention Facilities during a time period when several prisoners disappeared. In this context the Commission again notes that Directors of Detention Facilities, who were in charge of detainees’ accommodation, and were responsible for organizing roll-calls, would be responsible for investigating whenever someone in their custody went missing; however, the Commission is unaware that any such investigation was ever undertaken. Similarly, as has been noted previously, the NSS officials in charge of detention and detention facilities would also be aware that the conditions of detention were severely inadequate, as was the standard of medical care. This knowledge is clear from the apparent practice by some NSS officers of hiding deaths in detention by accompanying deceased detainees to hospital, pretending they were still alive. The Commission understands that a similar system of detention management existed at other NSS facilities in Juba and other areas of the country, such as the Riverside and Jubek State National Security detention facilities. Given the grave human rights violations against detainees that reportedly occurred in these facilities (as described above), these officials would similarly incur criminal responsibility for failing to prevent or address these violations. 478 For example, the office of the Director of Detention at the NSS Blue House detention facility. National Security Services Act (2014), section 53(1)(g). 480 National Security Service Act, 2014, Article 33.1.d. 479 75