A/HRC/RES/37/31
United Nations
General
Assembly
Distr.: General
13 April 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-seventh session
26 February–23 March 2018
Agenda item 4
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on 23 March 2018
37/31.
Situation of human rights in South Sudan
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Guided also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on
Human and Peoplesʼ Rights and relevant human rights treaties,
Reaffirming that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and
that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights,
Recalling Human Rights Council resolution 34/25 of 24 March 2017, the twentysixth special session of the Council, including its resolution S-26/1 of 14 December 2016
on the situation of human rights in South Sudan, and its resolution 31/20 of 23 March 2016,
in which the Council established the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, and all
other previous Human Rights Council and Security Council resolutions and President’s
statements on South Sudan,
Deeply alarmed by the report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, 1
in which it noted that some of the human rights violations may amount to war crimes and
crimes against humanity, and that the conflict and violence in South Sudan includes attacks
against civilians, the targeting of civilians on the basis of their ethnic identity, killings,
abductions, torture, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, deliberate
denial of food, the looting and destruction of homes and villages, violence against children,
the recruitment or use of child soldiers, and attacks on schools and hospitals,
Welcoming the joint reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan of January 2017, June
2017 and February 2018 and the recommendations contained therein, deeply concerned by
their findings and welcoming the reports of the Secretary-General as well as the Panel of
Experts on South Sudan established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2206 (2015) of
3 March 2015,
Noting with grave concern all relevant decisions and communiqués of the African
Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the Peace and Security
1
A/HRC/37/71.
GE.18-05895(E)