“Any word less than terrible would be an understatement. I think it is a terrible human rights situation and it is deeply distressing”.

That’s how the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for human rights, Andrew Gilmour, answered a question about the current human rights situation in South Sudan.

“We understand that during war, not good things happen but what is happening in this country seems well beyond what is necessary in normal combat,” Gilmour said on Friday, concluding his four-day visit to South Sudan and stressing the need to hold perpetrators of atrocities accountable for their crimes.

“This is a war that has been waged against the men, women and children of South Sudan, and the only way of ending this onslaught will be when the perpetrators face consequences for what they are doing”, the Assistant Secretary-General said.

On his visit to Malakal in Upper Nile, Gilmour heard terrifying accounts about the human rights violations committed against the civilian population in the area.

“There are many stories of how men go out and they will be abducted and killed,” he said.

Equally horrifying for Gilmour were reports that women struggling to provide for their families face risks of rape on an almost daily basis.

“Those who are living the camp know that if they go out they will get raped or know that there is a strong possibility that they might get raped,” Gilmour said, adding that to put women in that position, shows how desperate they are.

“Their choices are either that they get raped or they get out and get some meagre resources in order to bring up their families.”