What makes a nation, other than its people? Is it the flag, the passport, the currency, the anthem? Or is it something more complex and harder to pin down?

In seeking to illustrate the latest in a series of Reuters special reports on the growing pains of South Sudan, photographer Adriane Ohanesian gathered a selection of objects. 

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Photo illustrations, clockwise from top left: A South Sudanese passport; A South Sudanese five pound note; A motorcycle license plate from the new nation's Eastern Equatoria State; A copy of South Sudan's national anthem handwritten by Gabriel Arnest, one of its three composers.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Photo illustrations, clockwise from top left: The South Sudan national soccer team's jersey; A bottle of White Bull beer, produced in Juba; A tote bag with the slogan 'I heart Juba'; A car air freshener showing the seal of South Sudan.

Reuters reports — Not all new countries are really new. Some are born almost fully formed; others have to start from nothing.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

The flag of South Sudan.

That difference is crucial to a new nation's chances of success.

More than half the youngest nations in the world were born or reborn after the collapse of communism in Europe and had existed as independent states as far back as the Middle Ages. Most regained independence with established institutions — courts, banks, police forces, schools — and skilled people to run them.

Interactive: Key measures on the world's newest countries

South Sudan, which gained full independence last year, is at the other end of the spectrum. When it won a measure of autonomy from Sudan in 2005, its roster of organized, national institutions began and ended with its army.

"In the case of South Sudan, you don't reconstruct, you don't rebuild, you start from scratch," Hilde Johnson, the U.N. Secretary General's Special representative for South Sudan, told Reuters. Read the full story.

Related content: 

• Blood and oil tinge South Sudan's first birthday
• 120 doctors for 8 million people: South Sudan's health-care gap
• Slideshow: South Sudan declares independence
• More images from South Sudan on PhotoBlog

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Dai Kurokawa / EPA

An inmate sits in his cell in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25, 2012.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

A female inmate looks out the prison door at Juba Central Prison in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 23.

European Pressphoto Agency reports — Built in 1948 by the British colonial government, Rumbek Central Prison houses some 600 prisoners who live in overcrowded cells with virtually no access to basic health care, sanitation, as well as adequate food and nutrition.

Arbitrary detention is rife in South Sudan, says a 2012 report by Human Rights Watch. Several inmates interviewed, some of them on death row, said they had no access to lawyers or any form of legal aid. But it is merely just one of several human rights laws being broken at the prisons in South Sudan. Conditions in the country's prisons 'clearly do not comply with international or domestic law and standards on prisoners' welfare', the report continues. Those who are accused of or convicted of murder are often shackled for extended periods of time, if not permanently. And corporal punishment is often used to 'discipline' inmates such as being beaten with a stick or whip for fighting or disobeying prison officers.

Smile Tombek, 33, an inmate in Juba Central Prison, says he was sentenced to 14 years in jail without a trial along with his three sisters, for killing a man, but no one told them who is accused of the killing. 'Someone was murdered and our whole family was accused so we were arrested, and then taken directly to this prison from the police station. Since then, I have never had a chance to talk to anyone, like a lawyer'.

The prison director at the Rumbek Central Prison says that he acknowledges the poor conditions at his prison but there have been some improvements over the past year, although the government needs more funding. South Sudan's economy has been seriously damaged following the halting of its oil production after a border dispute with its northern neighbor Sudan. The world's newest nation still has a lot of work to do for its citizens - whether they are guilty of a crime or not.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Text and images made available to NBC News on Nov. 21

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Shackled inmates sit in the yard in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 24.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Inmates line up bowls of food for dinner in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

An elderly inmate leans against a cross at a yard inside the Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Shackled inmates wash their hands and feet at a yard in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 24.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Shackled inmates play cards in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

A female inmate, said to be mentally ill, lies down in her cell, soiled with her own urine and feces, in Juba Central Prison in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 23.

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Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A Toposa boy walks along the Singaita River where gold has been found in Namorinyang, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A Toposa woman looks for gold in the Singaita River in Namorinyang, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A man digs a hole in search of gold in Napotpot, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A Toposa boy takes a rest after digging for gold in Napotpot, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A trader weighs his gold in a shop in Kapoeta, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A Toposa girl pans for gold in the Singaita River in Namorinyang, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Jackson Locheto from Kenya uses a gold detector in Nanakanak, South Sudan.

In South Sudan ordinary people have been extracting gold from artisanal mines and taking part in as-yet unregulated trade in the precious metal.

Reuters reports, dozens of Toposa tribesmen and women, festooned with plastic necklaces, brass piercings and beaded amulets, hack away at the red soil with metal poles and shovels, digging small craters in a boozy revelry.

"Everything is luck," said Leer Likuam on the edge of a shallow trench through a translator. On an average day he might dig up six grams, worth around 1,200 South Sudanese pounds ($270), he said. "Some days you're lucky."

Once he found a 200-gram gold nugget bigger than his thumb, boasts Likuam.

On the international market, Likuam's prize lump would fetch $11,000, an enormous sum in a country where the average teacher earns just 360 South Sudanese pounds, about $90, per month.

But now the government hopes to pass mining legislation that will formalize the industry, let them tax precious metal and mineral exports and sell concessions to large-scale investors. Read the complete article.

All images were captured by Reuters photographer Adriane Ohanesian in September and October 2012, but made available to NBC News today.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A shirt hangs in the window of a Sarko alcohol shop in Kapoeta, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A bowl holding small flakes of gold sits in the middle of Singaita River in Namorinyang, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A view of the Singaita River which flows down from the Lauro mountains and through Kapoeta, South Sudan.

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A female inmate peers out through the grills of a metallic prison gate at Juba's central prison in South Sudan.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

An inmate standd astride an open waste water gulley with shackles around his ankles at the prison yard of Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Prison wardens carry out an inspection of the kitchens at Juba's central prison in South Sudan.

GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

In Juba, the ramshackle capital of South Sudan, the world's newest nation, over 100 people await execution in filthy and crowded prisons. Human rights activists say conditions break basic freedoms, with many inmates never having even seen a lawyer, or even knowing their charges.

In June, Human Rights Watch issued a report that found that prisoners in South Sudan were often detained arbitrarily, often not charged with crimes and frequently not provided with lawyers for their defense. The report said some prisoners were detained for up to five years without trial. Continue reading AP article.

Impoverished South Sudan was left in ruins after decades of war with Sudan before separating in 2011 after a landslide independence referendum. But like so much in the country, the legal system was left in tatters, with sometimes conflicting, overlapping systems of justice.

All images captured Oct. 23-26 by AFP - Getty Images photographer Tony Karumba, but made available to NBC News today. 

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates get ready to dish out food to other prisoners for their evening meal at Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates, who are shackled together at the ankles, bathe at a water point at Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan.

- / AFP - Getty Images

A mentally ill inmate at Juba's central prison in South Sudan is locked-up in solitary confinement.

• Read UN's program for South Sudan
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Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin / AP

A man watches over his cattle and goats as they graze in Yida camp, South Sudan, Sept. 16. Yida refugee camp is home to thousands of people who have fled recent fighting in Sudan's Southern Kordofan state and around the border of Sudan and South Sudan.

Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin / AP

Boys gather to wrestle, a traditional sport practiced in many parts of South Sudan, on a sandy patch of ground in Yida camp, South Sudan, Sept. 16.

Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin / AP

Tasmin, a mother of six, stands with her children outside her house in Yida camp, South Sudan, Sept. 16.

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A sick Sudanese girl waits for transport to the MSF (Doctors Without Borders) field hospital on July 16, 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp of South Sudan.

By Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Up to 16,000 refugees are being moved due to flooding in the Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan. The rainy season has caused problems with flooded fields around the tents. The Jamam refugee camp is approximately 50 miles from the border of North Sudan and there are currently three refugee camps in the Upper Nile area housing 107,000 refugees from the Engassana region coming from North Sudan.

Over the past year repeated conflict with North Sudan, corruption scandals and economic difficulties have plagued the new country. Further problems caused by the shutdown of its oil production have led to a sharp decline in its currency and a rise in the price of food and fuel.

A camp sits near mud and water, a constant problem in the refugee camp, while many are moved to a different location on July 16, 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp of South Sudan.

Sudanese refugees are directed by a UNHCR staff to a medical checkup area before heading to the Batil refugee camp on July 16, 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp of South Sudan.

A Sudanese girl rests outside her tent as her mother stands nearby on July 16, 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp of South Sudan.

Sinara holds her grandson Karum Bashir while his mother is away getting water on July 16, 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp of South Sudan.

Sudanese refugees wait in line to get a medical check before heading to the Batil refugee camp on July 15, 2012 in the Jamam camp of South Sudan.

Sudanese refugees crowd into a truck heading to the Batil refugee camp on July 15, 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp of South Sudan.

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Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

As in many developing nations, international aid is both an invaluable help to South Sudan and a crutch that sometimes enables it to avoid reality. International Rescue Committee (IRC) Community Case Management Officer Pitia Jacob (L) walks with Paulino Angui Akot in Majak Ajuong, in South Sudan, on June 2, 2012. All pictures made available to msnbc.com on July 10, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A young girl with malaria rests in the in-patient ward of the Malualkon Primary Health Care Center in Malualkon, in Northern Bahr el Ghazal on June 1, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

One of a few broken ambulances at the Aweil State Hospital, the only hospital in the state of Northern Bahr el Ghazal, on June 2, 2012.

Reuters reports — Nowhere is South Sudan's dependence on the outside world more clear than in its health system.

The people of Africa's newest nation — which celebrated its first birthday on Monday — face cholera, measles, meningitis, polio, river blindness, sleeping sickness, yellow fever and whooping cough. Malaria accounts for a quarter of all hospital visits. South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Around one in six children die within their first year.

And there are just 120 doctors and 100 nurses in a country of 8 million. Foreign governments and other donors gave just under $1 billion or so in aid in 2010, and around four-fifths of all health care is provided by outside groups. Read the full story.

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Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Blood samples to be tested for malaria are seen at the Aweil State Hospital in Aweil on June 2, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Left to right: Toma Adeng, Maria Abuk, Mary Achol, and Martha Akuch, who work as voluntary birth attendants, pose for a photograph at the Malualkon Primary Health Care Center in Malualkon on June 1, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A handwritten medical chart is seen on the wall of the Malualkon Primary Health Care Center in Malualkon on June 1, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Men carry bags of food while women wait for their rations at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution site in Pibor on June 25, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A U.N. helicopter lands at the airstrip in Pibor on June 26, 2012. Development experts have grown more sophisticated in recent decades about how they deliver aid. But in fragile states such as South Sudan, getting the balance right between helping a country and helping that country help itself remains incredibly difficult.

Shannon Jensen / AP

A man holds South Sudanese flags as he prepares to dance at the country's anniversary celebrations at the John Garang mausoleum in Juba on July 9, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Boys wash a tractor in the Pibor river in Pibor on June 24, 2012. All pictures made available to msnbc.com on July 9, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Children sing and dance on a Sunday morning at the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan in Pibor on June 24, 2012.

Reuters reports — South Sudanese celebrating their nation's first birthday on Monday will bask in the pride of their hard-won political freedom, but many may ask when they will enjoy the material benefits promised by the government of former rebels. 

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

South Sudan's first president, Salva Kiir, stands after placing flowers at the mausoleum for Dr. John Garang during a ceremony celebrating the first anniversary of South Sudan's independence day on July 9, 2012 in Juba.

'Free at last': South Sudan is world's newest nation

South Sudan split from Sudan after a civil war that killed some 2 million people over two decades, becoming the world's newest nation. But the jubilation that saturated the ramshackle capital last year has dimmed.

Slideshow: South Sudan declares independence

"We have waited for the flower of freedom," student Pater Achuil said as he sat in an unfinished building near Juba airport, shards of concrete poking through the capital's skyline behind him. Read the full story.

More images from South Sudan on PhotoBlog

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Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A boy sets up his shop at a market in Pibor on June 23, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A boy works in the corner of a classroom at Pibor Primary School in Pibor on June 25, 2012.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Cows are seen tied behind a house at sunset in Pibor on June 21, 2012.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

A Sudanese family rests along a road they have been walking for the past three days, on July 6, 2012 along the border road inside South Sudan. Many refugees have been walking for 4 to 5 days from inside Sudan to get to Yida refugee camp from the Nuba mountain region where they have no food and are fleeing the on-going conflict.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

People wait in line for hours to receive medical treatment at the CARE medical clinic at the Yida refugee camp on July 5, 2012 in Yida, South Sudan.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

A Sudanese woman sits outside her hut on a rainy afternoon at the Yida refugee camp on July 5, 2012.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Bolis Jamal, 3, stands near his temporary shelter suffering from malnutrition at the Yida refugee camp on July 1, 2012.

Refugees in South Sudan are facing a nutrition and disease crisis as conflict and hunger in the neighboring Blue Nile State of Sudan continue to drive people across the border.

See more of Paula Bronstein's images of the Yida refugee camp, which has a swelling population of over 60,000 people.

Jonathan Miller has spent the last week in Jamam, another camp nearby, and reports below on the looming health disaster which many blame on the United Nations' failure to act sooner. 

Channel 4 News: Sudanese refugees tell of their flight from persecution

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Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

A girl is measured at a field hospital for malnourished children at the Yida refugee camp along the border with North Sudan on July 4 in Yida, South Sudan.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

A girl's arm is measured at a field hospital for malnourished children at the Yida refugee camp on July 4 in Yida, South Sudan.

Getty Images reports: Yida refugee camp in South Sudan grows each day and now has swollen to 64,317, as the refugees continue to flee from South Kordofan in North Sudan. The numbers of refugees arriving from North Sudan vary from 500 to 1,000 a day.

Many new arrivals walked from 3 to 5 days to reach the camp without food. The rainy season has increased the numbers suffering from diarrhea and severe malnutrition and 95% of the field hospitals' patients are children under the age of five.

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Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

New arrivals crowd together living in makeshift shelter at the Yida refugee camp along the border with North Sudan.

• Sudan opposition calls for strikes, protests
  

Kaka Sauirs sits at her temporary shelter after arriving two days earlier to the Yida refugee camp of South Sudan, close to the border with North Sudan, on July 02, 2012.

Photos and text by Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

The Yida refugee camp in South Sudan has swollen to nearly 60,000 as refugees flee from South Kordofan in North Sudan. Refugees are arriving at 300-600 a day, some walking five days and some walking two weeks or more to reach the camp.  The rainy season has increased the number of sick children suffering from diarrhea and severe malnutrition, as the international aid community struggles to provide basic assistance to the growing population. Most have arrived with only the clothes they were wearing.

Sudanese refugees walk along the border road after crossing from North Sudan, carrying what they can, on July 2, 2012 in Jaw, South Sudan.

New arrivals sit on the ground with no shelter at the Yida refugee camp on July 2, 2012.

Sudanese refugees pray at a makeshift church at the Yida refugee camp on July 1, 2012 in Yida, South Sudan.

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