Based on two years of independent research and analysis, the report reveals how oil and non -oil income fades through opaque schemes and politically connected contracts. Meanwhile, millions of Sudanese from the South are denied basic services.
“Our report tells the story of the looting of a nation: corruption is not incidental, it is the engine of southern Sudan decline,” said Yasmin Sook, president of the commission.
“It is driving hunger, collapse health systems and cause preventable deaths, as well as feed mortal armed conflicts about resources.”
FUND OF FUNDS
By gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan emerged from decades of brutal civil war with Sudan, with a legacy of divisive conflict, repression of the State and poverty.
Fourteen years after independence, the ruling elites still fight for control over natural resources.
The report found that the oil tickets of the Sudanese government have only exceeded $ 25.2 billion since 2011, but almost no money goes to essential services. Due to systemic corruption, education, public health and justice systems are in crisis.
“Funs are not abstract budgetary failures: they translate into preventable deaths, generalized malnutrition and mass exclusion of education,” said Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández.
“Three quarters of children’s deaths are preventable, however, the funds go to sponsorships and private pockets, not medicine or clean water and sanitation.”
Multiple corruption schemes
The ‘Oil For Roads’ program is just one of the corruption schemes described in the report. The program intended to build infrastructure, but could not deliver promised roads. It is estimated that $ 2.2 billion have been channeled to political sponsorship networks through the scheme outside the budget.
The report also details Crawford Capital’s schemes, a political company, in non -oil income collections, where little taxes reach government budgets, even when illegal taxes on humanitarian actors obstruct critical operations of food aid.
A need for change
A 2018 peace agreement promised a structural change and an improvement in public financial management, but the reform has not been properly funded or implemented.
Prioritizing the implementation of certain reforms under the agreement is one of the many recommendations that the report establishes for South Sudan. The 54 recommendations aim to help the country meet the basic needs of the population, strengthen responsibility and end impunity.
“When public income becomes private fortune, peace cannot maintain. For the transition to survive, the responsibility of economic crimes and an investment in human rights are indispensable,” Sooko said.
The Human Rights Commission in South Sudan was established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2016. The three commissioners are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.