A/HRC/31/49 II. Context and recent developments 8. Since the outbreak of the crisis in December 2013, the situation of human rights has deteriorated dramatically. All parties to the conflict have perpetrated gross violations and abuses of international human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law, including attacks against civilians, rape and acts of sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, abduction and attacks on journalists, United Nations personnel and peacekeeping facilities. Many civilians have been attacked and killed in their homes, and also in places of shelter, including churches, mosques, hospitals and medical facilities, and in United Nations bases. Thousands have been killed; more than 2 million South Sudanese have been displaced from their homes, more than 1.5 million of them within the country, and many have sought refuge on the premises of United Nations bases. 9. In May 2014, the Secretary-General advised the Security Council that there were reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity had been committed in South Sudan. The Africa Union commission of inquiry reached the same conclusion in its report. 10. In August 2015, the parties to the conflict signed a peace agreement intended to halt the fighting, and put in place processes for establishing a transitional Government of national unity. The agreement provided for the establishment of a hybrid tribunal, under the auspices of the African Union, with the authority to prosecute genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious crimes. It also required that the future transitional Government create, within six months, a truth and reconciliation commission to establish a record of violations of human rights perpetrated since the start of the conflict, and a compensation and reparations authority. As at February 2016, the transitional Government had not yet been established. III. Overview of alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law A. Background 11. The killings, sexual violence, displacement, destruction and looting that characterized the conflict in continued unabated through 2015. In 2015, while all parties to the conflict continued to commit serious violations and abuses, the Government appears to have been responsible for gross and systematic human rights violations. One major development was the outbreak of conflict in the Equatorias, where the Government strove to suppress the armed “opposition”. Over the same period, acts of intimidation by the State security apparatus against the media and civil society entities increased. B. Main findings 12. The main findings made by the assessment team were based on the information it collected, including satellite imagery provided by the Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). Given the scope of the allegations and their gravity, consistency, recurrence throughout the period under review, and the similarities in their modus operandi, the team found reasonable grounds to believe that gross violations and abuses of international human rights, serious violations of international humanitarian law and other international crimes had been committed during 2015. If established before a court of law, these allegations may, depending on the circumstances, constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity. 3