NEW YORK – UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, will make her first visit to South Sudan beginning on Sunday, the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said.
Dujarric made this known at a news conference on Friday in New York.
She said that while there, Bangura would discuss what concrete measures could be taken to prevent and respond to violations taking place in South Sudan, including providing critical support to survivors.
“Since fighting broke out in South Sudan last December, incidents of rape, forced abortion and sexual harassment by all sides have been reported.
“There are also grave concerns regarding the ethnic dimensions of the conflict, with reports of collective punishment, including sexual violence, fuelling reprisals and a cycle of revenge,” Dujarric told correspondents.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, appointed Bangura as Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict on Sept. 4, 2012.
Bangura is the second person to recieve this mandate, and replaced Margot Wallström, who concluded her two years on the post on Oct. 31, 2012.
UN agencies warn that 24,000 women are now at risk of sexual violence in South Sudan, with many women exposed after fleeing into the bush to escape soldiers and rebels.
On May 8, 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.
Also in its report, released on May 8, 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”. [eap_ad_ 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 said that women of nationalities of neighbouring 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, it added, women’s bodies were mutilated and, in at least one instance, women were forced to go outside of their homes naked. (NAN)
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