A/HRC/40/CRP.1 manipulating traditional cattle raiding practices in some communities to raise troops, mobilizing communities along ethnic lines.564 Girls are also targeted and abducted during cattle raids and can then be auctioned to men and families and/or forcibly married in order to enlarge clans.565 Cattle raiding and the ensuring reprisal attacks while historical, have been distorted by the ongoing conflict and used increasingly as a military tactic as is evidenced by the conflict in Unity state between April and June 2018.566 Revenge attacks and killings perpetuate a cycle of revenge which feeds insecurity, and results in the abduction and rape of women and girls, remaining central to community conflicts. 567 Evidence collected by the Commission confirms that attacks against civilians in some villages, such as in Unity state between April and June 2018, were incredibly brutal with men in those villages deliberately targeted and forced to flee or risk being killed. 7. Women and Access to land In most South Sudanese communities, access to and the use of community land is governed by customary law where males inherit land from their fathers while women are excluded from being able to inherit land from either their husbands or fathers and are only entitled to usage of land through their male relatives.568 Both traditional and statutory courts discriminate against women being able to benefit from land rights in their family.569 The only instance in which a woman is able to acquire land independently is when she is identified as being vulnerable, i.e. in the case of a widow, or is the head of a household with young children and when it is in the interest of the community.570 While the Transitional Constitution provides that women can own property and inherit a share of their deceased husband’s estate, they have yet to realize this right substantively. 571 A key challenge going forward is how the Government of South Sudan will deal with the return of the millions of South Sudanese displaced and where women and girls constitute households. Women interviewed in Yei, raised that when they had returned home to their villages, they had found their homes and land occupied. Widows in particular returning to their villages will find it difficult to access land without an adult male to claim it as per customary law. 8. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in South Sudan A recent study on violence against women and girls in South Sudan found that between 50 to 75 percent of women and girls had experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime and around one third had been sexually assaulted by a non-partner at least once.572 Sexual and gender-based violence has increased as a result of the ongoing conflict 564 Witness 877, ERN 101598-101602; Witness 872, ERN 101603-101608; Witness 863, ERN 101609-1201613; Witness 856, ERN 101614-101618; H. Wild et al., “The militarization of cattle raiding in South Sudan: how a traditional practice became tool for political violence”, Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 2018, 3:2; Care, “Inequality and injustice: The deteriorating situation for women and girls in South Sudan’s war. A progressive gender analysis: 2013-2016”, 2016. 565 Care, “Inequality and injustice: The deteriorating situation for women and girls in South Sudan’s war. A progressive gender analysis: 2013-2016”, 2016 566 Confidential Document, ERN D112933- D113082; Witness 837, ERN 101638-101642; Witness 838, ERN 101632-101637; Witness 856, ERN 101614-101618; Witness 877, ERN 101598-101602. 567 Witness 877, ERN 101598-101602; Witness 873, ERN 101648-101652; H. Wild et al., “The militarization of cattle raiding in South Sudan: how a traditional practice became tool for political violence”, Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 2018, 3:2; 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. See between June and August 2011 two reciprocal raid on Lou Nuer and Murle communities in Jonglei State killed around 1000 people. 568 T. Mennen, Customary Law and Rights in South Sudan, NRC, March 2012. 569 See “Report on Customary Court of the Bari Tribe, Kator Payam, Juba County, Central Equatoria State, November 2014”, in Justice Africa, Justice in Practice: South Sudan, Spring 2015, pp. 13-14; T. Mennen, Customary Law and Rights in South Sudan, NRC, March 2012. 570 T. Mennen, Customary Law and Rights in South Sudan, NRC, March 2012. 571 Transitional Constitution (2011), Articles 3, 10, 16(5); Child Act (2008), section 26(2)(b); UNDP, “Ascertainment of Customary Laws in South Sudan”, Discussion Paper, 2012; Human Security Baseline Assessment for South Sudan and Sudan, “Women’s Security and the Law in South Sudan”, Small Arms Survey, march 2012. 572 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. 86