South Sudan

=== Human rights ===
{{Main|Human rights in South Sudan}}
Campaigns of atrocities against civilians have been attributed to the SPLA.<ref name="Al Jazeera">{{cite news|title=Sudan: Transcending tribe|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/africa/201111010324526960.html|publisher=Al Jazeera English|access-date=30 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317113359/http://english.aljazeera.net//photo_galleries/africa/201111010324526960.html|archive-date=17 March 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> In the SPLA/M's attempt to disarm rebellions among the [[Shilluk people|Shilluk]] and [[Murle people|Murle]], they burned scores of villages, [[rape]]d hundreds of women and girls and killed an untold number of civilians.<ref name=aljazeera>{{cite news|title=Sudan: Transcending tribe|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/africa/201111010324526960.html|work=[[Al Jazeera English]]|access-date=30 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317113359/http://english.aljazeera.net//photo_galleries/africa/201111010324526960.html|archive-date=17 March 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Civilians alleging [[torture]] claim fingernails being torn out, burning plastic bags dripped on children to make their parents hand over weapons, and villagers burned alive in their huts if it was suspected that rebels had spent the night there.<ref name=aljazeera /> In May 2011, the SPLA allegedly set fire to over 7,000 homes in [[Unity State]].<ref>{{cite news|title=SPLA set fire to over 7,000 homes in Unity says Mayom county official|url=http://www.sudantribune.com/SPLA-set-fire-to-over-7-000-homes,39010|work=[[Sudan Tribune]]|date=24 May 2011|access-date=9 July 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629084946/https://www.sudantribune.com/SPLA-set-fire-to-over-7-000-homes,39010|archive-date=29 June 2011}}</ref>

The UN reports many of these violations and the frustrated director of one Juba-based international aid agency calls them "human rights abuses off the [[Richter scale]]".<ref name=aljazeera /> In 2010, the [[CIA]] issued a warning that "over the next five years,...a new mass killing or [[genocide]] is most likely to occur in southern Sudan."<ref name=aljazeera /> The [[Nuer White Army]] has stated it wished to "[[genocide|wipe out]] the entire [[Murle people|Murle]] tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer's cattle"<ref name=Bloomberg /> and activists, including [[Minority Rights Group International]], warned of genocide in [[Jonglei]].<ref name=sudantribune2>{{cite news|title=Activists warn of "genocide" in S.Sudan's Jonglei conflict|url=http://www.sudantribune.com/Activists-warn-of-genocide-in-S,41011|work=[[Sudan Tribune]]|date=16 December 2011|access-date=2 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229111823/https://www.sudantribune.com/Activists-warn-of-genocide-in-S,41011|archive-date=29 December 2011}}</ref> At the beginning of 2017, genocide was imminent again.<ref name="D+C">{{cite news|title=Slinding towards genocide|url=https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/urgent-action-needed-south-sudan-deescalate-violent-conflict|work=D+C, development and cooperation|date=13 January 2017|access-date=27 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228075409/https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/urgent-action-needed-south-sudan-deescalate-violent-conflict|archive-date=28 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Peter Abdul Rahaman Sule, the leader of the key opposition group [[United Democratic Front (Sudan)|United Democratic Forum]], has been under arrest since 3 November 2011 over allegations linking him to the formation of a new rebel group fighting against the government.<ref>{{cite news|title=S. Sudan's opposition leader arrested over rebel links|url=http://www.sudantribune.com/Breaking-News-S-Sudan-s-opposition,40624|work=Sudan Tribune|date=4 November 2011|access-date=17 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704181314/http://www.sudantribune.com/Breaking-News-S-Sudan-s-opposition,40624|archive-date=4 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=South Sudan arrests opposition leader turned rebel|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/04/175465.html|publisher=AlArabiya|date=4 November 2011|access-date=17 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219001953/http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/04/175465.html|archive-date=19 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[child marriage]] rate in South Sudan is 52%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures|title=Child Marriage Facts and Figures|access-date=1 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828070027/https://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures/|archive-date=28 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> [[LGBT rights in South Sudan|Homosexual acts]] are illegal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/|title=Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=16 June 2016|access-date=31 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111064457/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/|archive-date=11 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Recruitment of [[child soldier]]s has also been cited as a serious problem in the country.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29762263|title=Child soldiers still being recruited in South Sudan|journal=BBC News|date=27 October 2014|last1=Burridge|first1=Tom|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010143340/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29762263|archive-date=10 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In April 2014, [[Navi Pillay]], then the [[UN High Commissioner for Human Rights]], stated that more than 9,000 [[child soldiers]] had been fighting in South Sudan's [[civil war]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27220244|title=South Sudan sides 'recruit 9,000 children to fight'|journal=BBC News|date=30 April 2014|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010103854/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27220244|archive-date=10 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The United Nations rights office has described the situation in the country as "one of the most horrendous [[human rights]] situations in the world". It accused the army and allied militias of allowing fighters to rape women as form of payment for fighting, as well as raid cattle in an agreement of "do what you can, take what you can."<ref name=globalpost>{{cite news|url=http://www.globalpost.com/article/6744906/2016/03/11/s-sudan-lets-fighters-rape-women-place-wages|title=South Sudan lets fighters rape women as payment|publisher=globalpost.com|access-date=24 May 2016|date=11 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519113950/http://www.globalpost.com/article/6744906/2016/03/11/s-sudan-lets-fighters-rape-women-place-wages|archive-date=19 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Amnesty International]] claimed the army suffocated more than 60 people accused of supporting the opposition to death in a shipping container.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/10/469971475/amnesty-international-says-south-sudan-soldiers-suffocated-60-plus-men-and-boys|title=South Sudan Soldiers Suffocated 60-Plus Men And Boys, Report Says|website=NPR|date=10 March 2016|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114040226/https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/10/469971475/amnesty-international-says-south-sudan-soldiers-suffocated-60-plus-men-and-boys|archive-date=14 November 2017|url-status=live|last1=Beaubien|first1=Jason}}</ref>

On 22 December 2017, at the conclusion of a 12-day visit to the region, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said, "Four years following the start of the current conflict in South Sudan, gross human rights violations continue to be committed in a widespread way by all parties to the conflict, in which civilians are bearing the brunt."<ref name="ohchr.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22562&LangID=E|title=OHCHR – UN human rights experts call for perpetrators of widespread human rights violations to be brought to justice in South Sudan|website=www.ohchr.org|access-date=23 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124071559/http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22562&LangID=E|archive-date=24 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan was established by the Human Rights Council in March 2016.<ref name="ohchr.org"/>