South Sudan polls lack safeguards, UN commission says

South Sudan still lacks many safeguards for peaceful and credible elections, a United Nations-appointed human rights commission warned Thursday after touring the country.

The government says it intends to hold the country's first elections in December, 15 years after independence. The polls have already been delayed twice, in 2022 and 2024, after the government failed to build capacity.

The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said the country had made no progress on corruption or political stability. It said serious rights violations continued, including killings, displacement, sexual violence and arbitrary detention, and urged independent investigations.

The commission said political and civic space had narrowed while many conditions for credible polls were still missing.

The warning comes as violence has increased between forces allied to President Salva Kiir and imprisoned opposition leader Riek Machar after a power-sharing deal collapsed.

The commission also cited a lack of progress since a major report last year that accused government elites of stealing billions of dollars in oil revenues while doing little to build schools, hospitals or other institutions.

Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernandez said impunity becomes entrenched when violations go unpunished and public resources are diverted without consequence. Commission chair Yasmin Sooka said patterns had changed little while the human cost continued to grow.