On June 10, the Enough Project joined Human Rights Watch, Humanity United, United to End Genocide, American Jewish World Service, and the National Association of Evangelicals in writing to National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry. The groups urged the imposition of targeted sanctions against more individuals in South Sudan responsible for serious human rights and humanitarian law violations.
In response to a recent surge in fighting, the letter requests that the U.S. government take the following three actions:
- Impose a new round of designations against those responsible for serious violations and request the Treasury Department prioritize evidence collection on South Sudanese targets.
- Push for complementary sanctions designations at the UN Security Council, including an arms embargo to prevent weapons and ammunition being used by the warring parties to further more abuses.
- Call on other states to impose their own targeted sanctions regimes.
The warring parties have little interest in making compromises for peace when there is no cost for not doing so. As demonstrated in a new Enough Project report released today, neither the region nor the international community have held South Sudan’s leaders to commitments made at the negotiating table. While fighting in South Sudan broke out in December of 2013, the U.S. government has only imposed against four commanders.