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GENEVA, 13 January 2014 [Gurtong] –The visit from 14 to 17 January 2014 will also to identify areas for improvement in the situation of the affected civilian population.

According to a release from the United Nations Human Rights Office, Šimonovic will meet in Juba with senior government and UN officials, the national human rights commission, the diplomatic community and a wide range of civil society actors including traditional and community leaders.

In Juba he will also meet with displaced people, victims and detainees.

He also plans to travel to Malakal, Bentiu and Bor, a town some 200 kilometres north of the capital Juba and the site of recent heavy fighting.

In a recent statement the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed grave concern over the severe human rights violations taking place daily in South Sudan during the past four weeks.

The High Commissioner, as well as other UN officials and human rights experts, also expressed serious concern about the safety of those who have been arrested, including hundreds of civilians who were reportedly detained during house-to-house searches and are being held in unidentified locations.

Ivan Šimonoviæ assumed his functions as Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights on 17 July 2010, heading OHCHR’s New York Office.

As violent conflict continues in South Sudan, over 25,000 civilians have fled to refugee camps in northern Uganda. Many are returning to camps they lived in during the 21-year Sudanese civil war, which ended in 2005.

Rhino refugee camp near Arua, is hosting over 6,000 South Sudanese refugees. Another 20,000 have arrived at camps in the Adjumani area. The majority are women, children and elderly persons.

About 25 per cent are unaccompanied children, according to camp officials.