The State of the World's Human Rights; South Sudan 2025

Systemic corruption resulted in underfunded public services. The US government’s funding cuts adversely affected the right to health, while around 6 million people were acutely food insecure and more than 70% of children were out of school. Authorities continued to use authoritarian practices to oppress or stifle dissent and political opposition, including arbitrary detentions. The armed conflict that erupted in 2013 escalated, resulting in mass displacement and dozens of killings. The presence in the country of Ugandan military forces constituted a violation of the UN Security Council arms embargo, which was renewed in May. While authorities took a small step towards establishing the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing, there was no progress in establishing a body for compensation and reparation for victims of the conflict, or towards the creation of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. The UN Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.

Background

The Tumaini Initiative peace negotiations between the government and armed groups that had not signed the 2018 peace agreement broke down in July.

There were frequent political reshuffles and speculation about presidential succession. President Salva Kiir Mayardit appointed Benjamin Bol Mel as vice president of the cabinet’s Economic Cluster in February and deputy leader of the ruling party in May. In 2017, Benjamin Bol Mel had been sanctioned by the US government on corruption allegations. In November, the president replaced him for both positions with a former vice-president, James Wani Igga, and placed him under house arrest.

In September, opposition leader Riek Machar Teny was suspended as first vice-president. He remained under house arrest imposed in March. He went on trial with seven others, on charges including murder and treason, which carry the death penalty, related to an attack on the army in Upper Nile State by the “White Army” (an armed “self-defence” group). The prosecution’s allegation that Riek Machar Teny commanded and controlled the group was contested by experts. Journalists and foreign nationals were intermittently denied access to the trial.

The government began issuing meteorological data internationally to improve early warning systems. Extreme weather events included a deadly heatwave. Widespread flooding particularly affected Jonglei and Unity states, leading, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to the internal displacement of nearly 375,600 people and impacting over 1.35 million people. Floodwater damaged farmlands and critical infrastructure, further restricting access to services and humanitarian assistance.

Economic, social and cultural rights

A report by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (CHRSS) found that systemic corruption and diversion of state revenues resulted in the severe underfunding of essential services, including health and education, fuelling a human rights crisis.

Right to food

As of November, approximately 6 million people (more than half the population) were acutely food insecure, including an estimated 28,000 people who experienced catastrophic hunger. More than 2.1 million children were at risk of malnutrition.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report in November raised concerns about the risk of famine among populations in parts of the Greater Upper Nile region, including in Fangak county and south of the town of Nasir. The report projected that more than 2.1 million children aged under five years would suffer acute malnutrition between July 2025 and June 2026. According to the report, high levels of food insecurity were driven primarily by armed conflict, high insecurity and widespread flooding, causing displacement and disrupting agriculture.

Right to health

South Sudan experienced its most severe cholera outbreak on record. As one of the most aid-dependent countries in Africa, it was among those most affected by US government funding cuts.¹ In April, the Al Jazeera newspaper reported that eight people, including five children, died in Jonglei State after walking for hours to receive medical care for cholera, following the closure of clinics and a patient transport service funded by USAID.

Right to education

According to UNICEF, 2.8 million children (more than 70% of the child population) were out of school – most of them girls. Barriers to education for girls included poverty and child marriage. Children in pastoral communities missed school when they were needed to move livestock.

Freedom of expression

Authorities continued to use authoritarian practices to oppress or stifle dissent. Critics were harassed, intimidated, threatened and arbitrarily detained and, in some cases, forcibly disappeared. The National Security Service (NSS) continued its requirement for civil society organizations to seek NSS approval to hold meetings, threatening to disable genuine dialogue.

On 22 January, the National Communication Authority (NCA) issued to internet service providers an arbitrary and disproportionate order to block social media platforms for a minimum of 30 days, extendable to a maximum 90 days.² Following a public outcry, including from human rights actors, the NCA lifted the ban. The order had stated that it was issued in response to violent attacks on people from Sudan and their businesses in South Sudan.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

In March, authorities arrested at least 22 people aligned with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army – In Opposition. Six were forcibly disappeared, and others were held in incommunicado detention. There were concerns about the legality of and lack of transparency surrounding the arrests, which followed violent clashes in mid-February between government forces and armed groups in Upper Nile State.

Eight men, who had been deported from the USA and held in a US military base in Djibouti since May, arrived in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on 4 July. Their deportation was part of the US government’s mass deportation campaign. They were then arbitrarily detained in an undisclosed location. By early September, two of them³ had been released while six remained in detention. ⁴

The NSS continued to monitor media, including social media, and use the information to arbitrarily arrest and unlawfully detain government critics. In November, the media reported that the NSS had arrested and detained for four days comedian Amath Jok after she referred to President Kiir as a “big thief wearing a hat” during a live broadcast on TikTok. She was banned from using social media indefinitely. Media reported that she was re-arrested later the same month, along with a singer and a TikTok personality. She was released before the end of the year.

Violations of international humanitarian law

South Sudan’s non-international armed conflict, which erupted in December 2013, escalated. According to the CHRSS, armed clashes occurred on a scale not seen since 2017, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence. Large numbers of civilians were displaced. While clashes took place throughout South Sudan, the Greater Equatoria and Greater Upper Nile regions were the most affected. In February, for example, there was a surge in fighting between the “White Army” and the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) (government forces) in Upper Nile State. These clashes were accompanied by reports of international humanitarian and human rights law violations and abuses, including crimes under international law.⁵

There was documented evidence of the SSPDF’s ongoing use of attack helicopters, which strongly suggested that the supply of spare parts to refurbish the helicopters continued in violation of the UN Security Council arms embargo (see below, Irresponsible arms transfers).⁶ There was also a marked increase in reports of the use of attack helicopters compared to previous years, as well as a significant rise in air strikes across the country. According to Human Rights Watch, the government allegedly used improvised air-dropped incendiary weapons in at least four attacks in Upper Nile State that killed dozens of people, burned others and destroyed civilian infrastructure. The attacks may have amounted to war crimes.

Irresponsible arms transfers

In May, the UN Security Council renewed for another year its arms embargo on South Sudan, in place since 2018.⁷ However, soldiers of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces and military equipment from Uganda had been deployed to South Sudan since 11 March, or earlier, without advance notification to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee for an exemption under the terms of the relevant resolution. This represented a flagrant violation of the arms embargo.

While its implementation had been inconsistent, the arms embargo was a crucial measure to curtail the flow of weapons used to violate international humanitarian law. Despite this, and the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation, several Security Council member states and the AU Peace and Security Council called for the arms embargo to be lifted in the weeks leading up to its renewal in May.

Right to truth, justice and reparation

The government took no meaningful action towards establishing, in line with legislation passed by the National Legislative Assembly in November 2024, the Compensation and Reparation Authority (CRA). If established, CRA’s role would be to provide material and financial support to citizens whose property was destroyed by the conflict and help them to rebuild their livelihoods. Authorities appointed a nine-member selection panel for the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing (CTRH), which began the process to select its South Sudanese commissioners. Civil society expressed concerns about the lack of transparency and public participation in the selection process as required under the CTRH law. The process to establish the AU-backed Hybrid Court for South Sudan (HCSS) to investigate and prosecute crimes under international law and other human rights violations committed in the conflict since 2013 remained stalled. In February, the media quoted the minister of information, communication, technology and postal services blaming the AU for the delay in the HCSS’s establishment, which for years national authorities had actively sought to block.

In April, the UN Human Rights Council extended the CHRSS’s mandate. It was the only viable mechanism equipped to independently collect and preserve evidence of crimes under international law committed during the ongoing armed conflict.⁸

1. USA: Lives at Risk: Chaotic and Abrupt Cuts to Foreign Aid Put Millions of Lives at Risk, 29 May ↩︎
2. “South Sudan: Authorities must reverse blanket ban on social media and investigate attacks on civilians”, 25 January ↩︎
3. “South Sudan: End four deportees’ arbitrary detention”, 18 September ↩︎
4. “South Sudan: The UN Human Rights Council should renew the mandate of the CHRSS by at least two years”, 20 February ↩︎
5. “South Sudan: UN Security Council must renew and enforce arms embargo to protect civilians”, 14 May ↩︎
6. “South Sudan: Renewal of UN arms embargo a welcome move to protect civilians”, 30 May ↩︎
7. “South Sudan: The UN Human Rights Council should renew the mandate of the CHRSS by at least two years”, 20 February ↩︎