South Sudan: Sexual Violence Soars in South Sudan

Juba — Sexual and gender-based violence might not be a new phenomenon in South Sudan, but the current crisis and the near absence of protection for civilians has exacerbated it, analysts say.

"We do know that it [sexual and gender-based violence] is a major issue. Even though many victims of sexual violence do not report their ordeal because of the stigma that it carries, wherever we went we met women and girls who told us that they had been raped by either government or opposition forces," Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International, told IRIN.

On 8 May, Amnesty International released a report in which it documented atrocities committed against civilians, including rape and sexual violence, by the two warring parties in South Sudan's five-month old conflict.

"The current militarized environment, where armed men are ubiquitous and civilian law enforcement is virtually absent, places women and girls at a heightened risk of sexual violence. Persistent reports of sexual violence perpetrated by both government and opposition forces strongly indicate that conflict-related sexual violence is widespread," Amnesty International said in its report.

"We received testimonies from women and girls victims of sexual violence from all the main conflict-affected areas: Juba and areas in Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states," Amnesty International's Rovera, told IRIN.

In its report, also released on 8 May, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) noted that the "conflict has exacerbated the vulnerability of women and children in South Sudan to sexual violence."

In the report, UNMISS said: "All parties to the conflict have committed acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women of different ethnic groups. Credible information suggests that sexual violence took place in connection with the occurrence of human rights and humanitarian law violations before, during, and after heavy fighting, shelling, looting, and house searches."

It added: "Women of nationalities of neighboring countries were also targeted. The forms of sexual violence used during the conflict include rape, sometimes with an object (guns or bullets), gang-rape, abduction and sexual slavery, and forced abortion. In some instances, women's bodies were mutilated and, in at least one instance, women were forced to go outside of their homes naked."