Event Date: March 6, 2018 - 9:00 to 11:00
Location: FSS 5028, 120 University Private

Presented by CIPS and the Human Rights Research and Education Centre

Thousands of civilians have been killed, often because of their ethnicity or perceived political alliances in South Sudan’s ongoing conflict.  More than 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes.  Large parts of key towns and essential civilian infrastructure such as clinics, hospitals, and schools, have been looted, destroyed, and abandoned. A quarter of a million people are still sheltering in United Nations compounds, and millions in refugee camps. The government has also become increasingly intolerant and repressive, arbitrarily arresting politicians, members of civil society and journalists for extended periods, sometimes years. Lack of accountability for decades of violence during Sudan’s long civil war continues to fuel the conflict, and despite a fragile peace agreement in 2015, leaders on all sides have failed to reduce abuses by their forces and hold them to account.

Jonathan Pedneault is a researcher in the Africa division of Human Right Watch, where he investigates international human rights and humanitarian law violations committed by government and rebel forces in South Sudan. Prior to joining HRW, Jonathan worked as a consulting researcher with Amnesty International in the Central African Republic, where he reported on the protection of civilians and sexual abuses by UN peacekeepers. In 2013 and 2014, he trained South Sudanese and Central African radio reporters to conflict-sensitive journalism.