The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango: South Sudan: UN human rights chief decries escalating hostilities, arbitrary arrests and hate speech
“We are warning today of a real risk of further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan. This follows a sharp increase in hostilities between the South Sudan people’s defence forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army - In Opposition,” he said.
“At least 75 civilians have been killed and 78 others injured since the latest hostilities broke out in February. Thousands have been displaced,” spokesperson stated.
The latest fighting broke out following a series of armed attacks in Nasir County, in Upper Nile State in February that were attributed to the White Army militia group.
“High Commissioner Volker Türk is urging all parties to urgently pull back from the brink and to uphold the 2018 peace agreement. He is also calling on all parties to protect civilians and civilian objects and to facilitate humanitarian access - in line with their obligations under international law,” Magango said.
“We are also concerned by the arbitrary detention of dozens of politicians linked to the SPLM-IO, among them the country’s first vice-president, ministers and members of parliament,” he said.
At least 55 high-ranking government officials affiliated with the SPLM-IO were arrested across the country between the 5th and the 26th of March – many of them without arrest warrants or due process.
“All those arbitrarily detained must be immediately and unconditionally released.
We appeal to the authorities to also take prompt, effective and meaningful steps to halt hate speech,” he stated.
END
For more information and media requests, please contact:
Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or
Liz Throssell - + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or
Seif Magango: +41 79 752 0488 / seif.magango@un.org
Tag and share
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango: South Sudan: UN human rights chief decries escalating hostilities, arbitrary arrests and hate speech
TRT: 01:48
SOURCE: OHCHR/UNOG
RESTRICTIONS: None
LANGUAGE: English /NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 23 May 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior shots: Palais des Nations
- Wide shot: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “We are warning today of a real risk of further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan. This follows a sharp increase in hostilities between the South Sudan people’s defence forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army - In Opposition and their allied fighters.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “At least 75 civilians have been killed and 78 others injured since the latest hostilities broke out in February. Thousands have been displaced.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “High Commissioner Volker Türk is urging all parties to urgently pull back from the brink and to uphold the 2018 peace agreement. He is also calling on all parties to protect civilians and civilian objects and to facilitate humanitarian access - in line with their obligations under international law.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “We are also concerned by the arbitrary detention of dozens of politicians linked to the SPLM-IO, among them the country’s first vice-president, ministers and members of parliament.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Seif Magango, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “All those arbitrarily detained must be immediately and unconditionally released. We appeal to the authorities to also take prompt, effective and meaningful steps to halt hate speech.”
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.