HRC52 - Item 2: Enhanced interactive dialogue on the report of the Commission of Human Rights on advancing the human rights in South Sudan
Geneva, 7 March 2023
 
National statement
delivered by
 
H.E. Ms. Ravesa Lleshi
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Albania in Geneva
 
 
"Mr. President,
 
Albania thanks the members of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for their outstanding work in documenting the human rights situation in South Sudan. We also wish to thank the South Sudanese authorities for facilitating the Commission’s missions in the country.
 
The situation in South Sudan is alarming. An estimated 9.4 million of the most vulnerable will need urgent life-saving assistance and protection this year, out of a population of 11.5 million. The suffering across the country is immense, and the violence against civilians is shocking in its brutality and scale, including significant loss of life, displacement, large-scale abductions of women and children and an increase by 360 percent in conflict related sexual violence compared to last year. South Sudanese women and girls continue to face unspeakable sexual violence.
 
The Commission reports of a never-ending cycle of violence, often in the same places, against the same people, by the same perpetrators – who then walk free. The work of the Commission is critical in the face of the chronic impunity and the continuous delays in the implementation of the 2018 Revitalized Agreement.
 
The Commission remains the only independent mechanism able to safeguard future accountability for crimes under international law. We urge this Council to renew the mandate of the Commission in full and to allow them to continue their vital work, in support of justice for the victims, accountability for those responsible, and a sustainable improvement in the human rights situation in South Sudan.
 
I thank you."