Disputes - international: South Sudan-Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan; periodic violent skirmishes with South Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic; the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial times
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 208,130 (Sudan); 13,933 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 5,890 (Ethiopia) (2013)
IDPs:
at least 739,700 (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) (2014)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: South Sudan is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; South Sudanese women and girls, particularly those who are internally displaced or from rural areas, are vulnerable to forced labor and sexual exploitation in urban centers; the rising number of street children and child laborers are also exploited for forced labor and prostitution; women and girls from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of the Congo are trafficked to South Sudan with promises of legitimate jobs and are forced into the sex trade; inter-ethnic abductions continue in some communities in South Sudan
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - South Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; the government has made progress in implementing its UN-backed action plan to eliminate the use of child soldiers in its armed forces, but it has not demonstrated evidence of increasing efforts to address other forms of trafficking; the government has not taken steps to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and has not deployed a system to transfer victims to organizations to receive care; the government continues to indiscriminately arrest individuals in prostitution, including child sex trafficking victims, and sentence them to prison (2013)