A/HRC/45/CRP.3 117. Exacerbating the catastrophic situation in Jonglei State, devastating floods between August and October 2019 which included some of the worst ever recorded in South Sudan affected at least 11 counties in Jonglei and had an adverse effect on the already fragile situation of food insecurity throughout the area, including throughout Pibor County (Annex V). Due to abnormally heavy rains and high levels of seasonal flooding, President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency on 29 October 2019 which covered 30 counties, including in Jongeli State. After concluding a visit to Pibor, on 8 November 2019, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan made an appeal for $61.5 million USD which was “urgently required to save lives, ensure the continuity of the response following the peak period and protect humanitarian gains made in 2019 from being lost”.240 118. One farmer described to the Commission his life before and after the floods, noting, “I usually cultivated vegetables like tomatoes, okras, amaranths, greens, onions, and eggplants at Pibor Kengen River during dry seasons, and at home during rainy seasons. The small money I gained fed my family and [I was able to send my] children to school.241 During the flood, I lost it all”.242 Another farmer made destitute by the floods echoed this sentiment.243 119. Residents in Pibor County also described to the Commission how humanitarian assistance has been completely inadequate to address the crisis caused by the floods,244 with one resident having described how “NGO assistance is very slow in food distribution”.245 At the time of writing (August 2020), communities in Pibor are being assisted by a local health service which lacks adequate medicine and is therefore too constrained to serve other areas in need.246 Elevated levels of hunger and the loss of livestock due to the flooding in late 2019 are further driving incidents of cattle-raiding, including in Pibor North and South,247 and drove incidents of looting by local communities of humanitarian organisations in October 2019. 248 120. By August 2019, Jonglei State had the highest concentration of individuals across South Sudan estimated to be in “Crisis” (IPC Phase 3) or worse acute food insecurity, involving around 1.25 million people.249 Cases of malnutrition throughout Bor, for example, had become so recurrent and pervasive that specialised clinics funded by international non-governmental organisations and United Nations agencies250 were set up to address the crisis. Even though children with severe acute malnutrition are examined in these clinics every morning and their weights recorded and monitored, dozens of boys and girls have died in Bor from underlying malnutrition-related causes.251 240 SOUTH SUDAN: Humanitarian Coordinator visits flooded areas, calls for $61 million to respond to immediate needs, UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA), 8 November 2019, available at https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/20191108_press_release_south_sudan_hc_visits_flooded_areas_calls_for_f unding.pdf. 241 ERN 103680 – 103683, para. 6. 242 ERN 103680 – 103683, para. 7. 243 ERN 103659 – 103662, paras. 3 and 6. 244 ERN 103648 – 103652, para. 10. 245 ERN 103626 – 103629, para. 4. 246 ERN 103626 – 103629, para. 6. 247 ERN 103648 – 103652, para. 8. 248 ERN 103635 – 103638, para. 8. 249 South Sudan: Acute Food Insecurity and Acute Malnutrition Situation for August 2019 – April 2020, INTEGRATED FOOD SECURITY PHASE CLASSIFICATION, 11 September 2019, available at https://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/south-sudan-acutefood-insecurity-and-acute-malnutrition-situation-august-2019. 250 Confidential Meeting, 7 December 2019. 251 Confidential Meeting, 7 December 2019. 30