A/HRC/34/63 79. Recent statements by the Government of South Sudan suggest that it is prioritizing peace over efforts to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in South Sudan. It appears to present justice and reconciliation as competing objectives in the process of building sustainable peace, arguing that the immediate end to this violent conflict should take precedence over accountability for serious crimes, while those in favour of justice argue that ending impunity for human rights violations is crucial for future deterrence. 80. The emphasis on peace first has failed to deliver the “just” peace for which so many South Sudanese citizens yearn. The delay of the African Union in establishing the hybrid court for South Sudan has led many to question whether these serious crimes and gross human rights violations and abuses would ever be prosecuted. As experiences in many States in transition have demonstrated, peace and reconciliation can never be achieved without truth and justice. Any notion that peace comes first before justice is to ignore the way they are linked. Too many of those who say “justice should come later” really mean “justice should never come at all”, hoping that the passage of time leads to the elimination and degradation of evidence, and that international attention will turn elsewhere. VI. Conclusion and recommendations A. Conclusions 81. Since the outbreak of violence in July 2016, there has been a massive increase in gross human rights violations and abuses. Intense fighting and violence on a larger scale continued in February 2017, drawing renewed condemnation from the Security Council on 10 February and yet another call for those responsible to be held accountable. The conduct of the Government of South Sudan and of other parties to the conflict suggests the deliberate targeting of civilian populations on the basis of their ethnic identity by means of killings, abductions, unlawful detentions or deprivation of liberty, rape and sexual violence, and the burning of villages and looting. 82. Following its two missions to South Sudan, the Commission warned that a process of ethnic cleansing was under way in the country. The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide also warned that the indicators for genocide were in place, a warning he renewed on 7 February 2017. Warning signs and enablers for genocide and ethnic cleansing include the cover of an ongoing conflict to act as a “smoke screen”, several low-level and isolated acts of violence to start the process, the dehumanization of others through hate speech, economic volatility and instability, deliberate starvation, the bombardment of and attacks against civilians, forced displacement and the burning of villages. The targeting of civilians on the basis of their ethnic identity is unacceptable and amounts to ethnic cleansing. 83. United Nations reports indicate that both government forces and non-State armed groups in South Sudan fail completely to uphold the principle of distinction between combatants, non-combatants and civilians. 84. An abundance of reports prepared by the United Nations, the African Union and non-governmental organizations about the situation of human rights in South Sudan since December 2013 have documented credible allegations of widespread human rights violations and abuses, which if established before a court of law, may (depending on the circumstances) amount to war crimes. These reports and assessments are consistent and resonate with the Commission’s findings based on 17