Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I commend you on your thinking on the topic, and on your concern, which I'm sure is genuine. As you say, it's something that you've been looking at for some time now. I'm afraid that responsibility to protect, like a number of principles and doctrines—and like a number of things

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, sir. Those are three big questions. You're absolutely right. The regional governments and states play a very significant role in what's happening in South Sudan. That factor cannot be underestimated. It's not surprising, perhaps. All the regional countries—Ethiopia,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Sexual violence is massive and rampant. At a national level they can do more. I think ultimately we have to go outside the national system, but the civilian courts and especially the military courts can do more. There is to some extent an existing military justice system—we've vi

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a great question. Those are great points, and I certainly agree with you. There's no question that there is a direct relationship between the observance of human rights, addressing the humanitarian crisis, and good governance. What we see over and over again, and it goes

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I have to say that the arms embargo is one of those things, a subject in itself. I don't profess any particular expertise on arms embargoes. I personally have some questions about it. I think that sometimes in the past an arms embargo, if not equally applied to all parties to a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. It's part of an overall pattern of distinguishing between services and security and providing humanitarian assistance along ethnic lines. The best single example of that is the situation I briefly mentioned a moment ago, in which a Dinka population is moved into an area that

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  You can imagine that in some places it's now non-existent, just because of the security situation. As I said, a large proportion of the population is completely displaced. What typically happens in these situations is that when violence approaches the people go into the bush or r

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  At least in some instances they do, yes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, it has. Unfortunately, the literacy rate in South Sudan is extremely low. I can't give you a number off the top of my head. I don't mean this in a pejorative way, but it's a very uneducated population. Unfortunately, that often lends itself to their being manipulated, to bei

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The most important thing that can be done, although it will still take some time, is to fully establish the hybrid court and its investigative elements. That's what needs to be done and should have been done by now, in my view. Short of that, in the meantime we need to increase

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand the challenges of democracy and of staying on schedules, so thank you very much. Honourable chairman, members of the subcommittee, ladies and gentlemen, first I want to sincerely thank you for the time and effort you are devoting to the trag