UN report: South Sudan allowed soldiers to rape civilians in civil war
Source: The Guardian
Although those forces scattered in 2015 in the face of an offensive waged by government troops in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), civilians were once again deliberately targeted.
The report chronicled how those suspected of supporting the opposition – including children and disabled people – were murdered by being burned alive, suffocated in shipping containers, shot, cut to pieces or hanged from trees.
One woman recounted being raped by five soldiers in front of her children; another was tied to a tree and forced to watch 10 soldiers rape her 15-year-old daughter.
“If you looked young or good-looking, about 10 men would rape the woman; the older women were raped by about seven to nine men,” one witness explained.
The report noted that the prevalence of rape suggested that its use had become “an acceptable practice by SPLA soldiers and affiliated armed militias”. Its assessment team was told that youth militias who carry out attacks with the SPLA had an agreement – “do what you can and take what you can”.
The report added: “Most of the youth therefore also raided cattle, stole personal property, raped and abducted women and girls as a form of payment.”
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said that while South Sudan was “one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world”, the situation was struggling to attract international attention.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/11/south-sudans-soldiers-allowed-to-rape-civilians-civil-war-says-un-government-torture
So many issues that are important to US women - choice, equal pay, etc. really are put into perspective here. I will always fight for the equal rights for women in the US but wow - conditions for women in this story are almost incomprehensible.
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