A/HRC/43/56 Rights. While there is no express provision in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which guarantees the right to food, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has stated that the “Right to food is implicitly protected under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights through the right to life, the right to health, and the right to economic, social and cultural development”. In one of its decisions on Sudan, the Commission concluded that: “even if Sudan is going through a civil war, civilians in areas of strife are especially vulnerable and the state must take all possible measures to ensure that they are treated in accordance with international humanitarian law”.284 Further, in its earlier decision on Chad, the Commission had also noted that “the African Charter, unlike other human rights instruments, does not allow for state parties to derogate from their treaty obligations during emergency situations. Thus, even a civil war in Chad cannot be used as an excuse by the state violating or permitting violations of rights in the African Charter”. 285 15. At the national level, the right to food may be construed by Articles 9(3) and 11 of the Constitution which guarantee both the domestic application of international human rights instruments to which South Sudan is a state party and the right to life and human dignity, respectively. The interdependence, indivisibility and interrelated nature of all human rights form another basis of the recognition of the right to food. It can therefore be inferred that both the state of South Sudan and armed opposition groups are bound to respect and fulfil their human rights and humanitarian law obligations under national, regional and international instruments and especially those that guarantee access to food, prohibit starvation of civilians and denial of access to humanitarian assistance in armed conflict. D. Sexual and gender-based violence 16. Incidents of sexual and gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence with respect to South Sudanese women and girls have rarely been investigated and prosecuted with women and girls being left without extremely limited redress, not being able to bring perpetrators to justice and unable to obtain reparation for harm suffered. Access to justice for victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence remains a challenge as rape cases rarely find their way before the statutory courts and are usually brought before customary courts which have an inherent gender bias and seldom hold male perpetrators sufficiently accountable for crimes committed.286 In general, there is a trust deficit among women towards government institutions including the police, the statutory and the customary law courts, which are considered prejudiced against females. 287 Sentences meted out in these institutions including but not limited to compensation in the currency of cattle or monetary compensation are in most cases unsatisfactory and disproportionate to the crimes committed. While perpetrators may be fined for these serious crimes, in some instances victims are compelled by both families to marry the perpetrator, increasing trauma and suffering of the victims.288 17. Despite this lack of serious commitment by the government of South Sudan and armed opposition groups to prevent, investigate and punish sexual and gender-based crimes, the Republic of South Sudan and armed opposition groups are both under national and international obligations to prevent and punish such crimes. Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions, while it does not explicitly mention specific forms of sexual violence, prohibits “violence to life and person” including cruel treatment and torture and “outrages upon personal dignity”.289 284 Amnesty International & Others v Sudan (2000) AHRLR 297 (ACHPR 1999). Para 50. Commission Nationale des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés v Chad (2000) AHRLR 66 (ACHPR 1995) para 21. 286 Justice Africa, “Justice in Practice: South Sudan”, Spring 2015. 287 What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls consortium, “No safe Place: A lifetime of violence for conflict-affected women and girls in South Sudan”, 2017; Justice Africa, “Justice in Practice: South Sudan”, Spring 2015. 288 What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls consortium, “No safe Place: A lifetime of violence for conflict-affected women and girls in South Sudan”, 2017. 289 See also Rule 93 of Rape and other forms of sexual violence 285 49