A/HRC/34/63 52. A human rights activist whose organization supported the call for an arms embargo on South Sudan was arbitrarily detained and interrogated by the National Security Service, and also had his organization blacklisted. The Commission learned that he had been forced by National Security Service lawyers to amend the organization’s founding documents so as to ensure that the Government would become the recipient of the assets of the organization if it were forcibly closed down. On his release, the activist fled to a neighbouring country. V. Accountability and transitional justice 53. The Commission notes that the lack of accountability for decades of violence during the struggle for independence from the Sudan has helped to fuel the current conflict in South Sudan. Since December 2013, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in horrific attacks, often targeted on the basis of their ethnicity or perceived allegiances. 54. The Government has announced various measures to hold perpetrators to account, including the establishment of several investigation committees, courts martial and special courts; none of these measures has, however, delivered any concrete result, raising questions about the Government’s ability to address the issue of accountability at either the domestic or the international level. In 2014, the Government took steps to establish several committees, including a national investigation committee headed by a former Chief Justice of South Sudan, to inquire into human rights violations committed in the course of the conflict. The findings of the committees were allegedly consolidated in a report submitted to the President at the end of 2014. To date, the report has not been made public. 55. With regard to the violence that broke out in July 2016, the Government reported that several soldiers had been tried before military courts martial for various offences, including loitering, theft, loss of guns, random shooting and murder committed in different parts of Juba. Most of these trials failed, however, to meet international standards. Although the Government reported that two dozen soldiers had been tried for crimes committed in Wau and Juba in July and August, it did not provide any details of the trials. Furthermore, UNMISS reported that the number and level of cases tried by the courts martial did not correlate with or reflect the gravity of the crimes and violations committed by SPLA soldiers during the violence, as most of the soldiers were charged with administrative misconduct or petty offences, such as theft and loss of weapons. The Government has also not prosecuted soldiers, for crimes against civilians in civilian courts, as would be required by national and international standards. The South Sudanese criminal and military justice systems lack the capacity to conduct genuine investigations into allegations of serious violations, especially given the scale of the alleged violations reported in the current conflict. 56. In August 2015, the parties to the conflict signed the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, committing to “national reconciliation, accountability, healing and combating impunity” as among the priorities for the Transitional Government of National Unity. Chapter V of the Agreement provides for the establishment of three transitional justice institutions: a hybrid court for South Sudan, to investigate and prosecute individuals suspected of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law; a commission for truth, reconciliation and healing to address the legacy of past human rights abuses; and a compensation and reparation authority. 57. South Sudanese human rights activists welcomed the incorporation of transitional justice into the peace agreement, hailing it as a victory for victims and a strong stand against impunity, which would discourage the use of violence to gain political power. The 12