South Sudan Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

South Sudan- Central African Republic: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic over water and grazing rights

South Sudan-Democratic Republic of the Congo: none identified

South Sudan-Ethiopia: the unresolved demarcation of the boundary and lack of clear limitation create substantial room for territorial conflict both locally among the border populations and between the two capitals; besides a large number of indigenous farmers, the border region supports refugees and various rebel groups opposed to the governments in Khartoum and Addis Ababa

South Sudan-Kenya: two thirds of the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty known as the Ilemi Triangle has been unclear since British colonial times; Kenya has administered the area since colonial times; officials from Kenya and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding on boundary delimitation and demarcation and agreed to set up a joint committee; as of July 2019, the demarcation process was to begin in 90 days, but was delayed due to a lack of funding

South Sudan-Sudan: present boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, which clearly placed the Kafia Kingi area (adjacent to Central African Republic) within South Sudan as shown on US maps although it is mostly occupied by Sudan; final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; the final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan; clashes continue in the oil-rich Abyei region; the United Nations interim security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has been deployed since 2011, when South Sudan became independent, Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting Sudanese rebel groups

South Sudan-Uganda: none identified

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 564,738 (Sudan) (refugees since 15 April 2023), 12,019 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2024)

IDPs: 2.258 million (alleged coup attempt and ethnic conflict beginning in December 2013; information is lacking on those displaced in earlier years by: fighting in Abyei between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in May 2011; clashes between the SPLA and dissident militia groups in South Sudan; inter-ethnic conflicts over resources and cattle; attacks from the Lord's Resistance Army; floods and drought) (2023)

stateless persons: 10,000 (2022)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating:

Tier 3 — South Sudan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, South Sudan remains on Tier 3; the government took some steps to address trafficking, including convening its anti-trafficking inter-ministerial task force and conducting training in partnership with international organizations; however, a government policy or pattern of employing or recruiting child soldiers existed; government security and law enforcement officers continued to forcibly recruit and use child soldiers and did not hold any members of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces or South Sudan National Police Services criminally accountable for these unlawful acts; for the eleventh consecutive year, authorities did not report investigating or prosecuting any trafficking crimes; the government did not report identifying or assisting any victims and continued to penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked (2023)

human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in South Sudan, as well as South Sudanese abroad; South Sudanese women and girls, particularly from rural areas or who are internally displaced, are vulnerable to domestic servitude, sometimes by prominent individuals in state capitals and rural areas; males in the households sexually abuse some of these women and girls and may exploit them in commercial sex; South Sudanese and foreign businesspeople exploit South Sudanese girls in sex trafficking in restaurants, hotels, and brothels—sometimes involving corrupt law enforcement officials; some children are coerced to work in construction, market vending, begging, herding, and a wide range of physically demanding labor sectors; men and women from neighboring countries—including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Republic of the Congo, and Uganda—as well as South Sudanese women and children are recruited with fraudulent employment offers in hotels, restaurants, and construction and exploited in forced labor and sex trafficking; child and forced marriages remain a problem, and husbands and their families may subject these girls to sex trafficking or domestic servitude; East African migrants transiting through South Sudan are vulnerable to forced labor and sex trafficking; government and opposition forces continue to use children to fight or serve in support roles; several million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and South Sudanese refugees living in neighboring countries are at risk of trafficking, and unaccompanied children in the IDP camps are vulnerable to abduction by sex and labor traffickers (2023)