South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Benjamin Takpiny
The Federation of Women Lawyers South Sudan (FIDA SS) has called for justice and humanitarian support for women, girls’ survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
“As we mark the 2023 international day for the elimination of violence against women, and the launch of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (GBV), we are reminded that GBV harms women and girls health and well-being,” FIDA-SS said in a statement issued over the weekend in Juba.
It said that GBV remains a major concern across South Sudan and GBV prevention and response programming represents an ongoing and critical need of displacement and conflict-affected households.
It noted that the 2023 Humanitarian Needs Overview says 9.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance including 1.9 million IDPs, 1.4 million returnees, 8 million host community/non-displaced people and 337,000 refugees.
“Among them, there are 2.2 million women and 4.9 million children, including 2.4 million girls and 2.5 million boys. Nearly 15 per cent of the total people in need are persons with disability,” it disclosed.
The 2023 theme of this campaign is ‘’UNiTE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls’’ and focuses on financing prevention strategies to stop violence before it occurs.
They said that they are working in partnership and collaboration with local authorities and international partners to improve access to justice for survivors, including legal representation in court, legal aid, healthcare, and survivor centered case management.
“FIDA-SS is very grateful for the support from partners and calls for more and expanded support in all areas to address the violence against women, girls, and children in South Sudan”.
They said that the ongoing conflicts in and outside the country has led to increase of vulnerable groups such as the internally displaced persons, returnees from Sudan and other parts of East African as well as Sudanese and other refugees who are facing increased risks of sexual violence and exploitation and appeal for increased humanitarian response to address the displacement crisis in the country.
“We take this opportunity to urge the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (RTNLA) and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to pass the key bills such as the GBV, Legal Aid and the Family law bills to law. It is time those most vulnerable in society such as women, children, people living with disability, youth and minority groups be seen by their representatives and protected”.
They are gratified for the technical assistance from UNDP and funding from the kingdom of Netherlands, for the development of the Gender Sensitive and Victim Centered Sentencing Guidelines for the GBV and Juvenile Court in South Sudan. The guidelines now require dissemination and continuous training on its application for all the relevant justice actors. The guidelines shall ensure coherence in sentencing procedures and while strengthening the criminal justice system.
“ We appeal to the international partners to support MOJCA in the establishment of GBV and juvenile courts in all the states and administration areas”.
They added that Legal aid law and policy is very crucial in the absence of a well-established justice system. Legal aid will strengthen the work of civil society organization in addressing the critical gaps in the current justice system and they ministry of Justices an constitutional Affairs to work with all stakeholders to ensure that a legal aid law and policy are in place.
they equally appeal to international partners to support civil society organizations establishing legal aid and paralegal services. Government legal aid may take long to establish and achieve satisfactory standards yet the civil society legal aid practitioners that play a crucial role must find their own sources of funds.
“We support the call for review of the Penal Code 2008, The Code of Evidence Act 2006, the criminal procedures Act 2008, Civil Procedures Act 2008, Judicial Act 2008, Judicial Service Council Act 2008, and the Prisons Act 2007 to reflect the new realities in line with country’s quest for transitioning to common law practice and strengthening the criminal justice system”
They added that The prison facilities have very limited capacity to handle the current surge in number of inmates and urged the government and international partners to quickly address the current situation in prisons and other detention facilities and ensure that persons with mental disorders, children, persons with disabilities (PWD) are accommodated separately and provided with specialized services that they deserve.
“We applaud the National Council of Ministers (Cabinet) for passing the Commission on Truth Reconciliation and Healing (CTRH) and Compensation and Reparations Authority (CPA) bills into law”.
They said that laws are crucial in addressing the legacy of violent conflict in the country. The laws shall support the implementation of the resolutions of the conference on transitional justice facilitated by UNDP, Ministry of Justice, and Constitutional Affairs (MOJCA) and development partners in May this year.
They added that the transitional justice mechanisms should consider progressive South Sudanese traditional customs and cultures in addressing and preventing violence against women, children, and girls.
The also appeal to the international development partners to support the civil society organizations in sensitizing their communities on the CTRH and CPA processes
“We appeal to government and international partners to prioritize victims’ mental health and psychosocial support through capacity and infrastructure development. There a very few psychotherapists and specialized facilities offering mental health assistance to victims. Justice and Confidence Centres for victims promote a collective voice for victims and strengthens the coordination of services”.
“As the transitional period is coming to an end, we remind the parties to the Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ACRSS) of their obligations of ensuring that recently reconstituted institutions such that National Elections Commission ( NEC), the National Constitution Review Commission ( NCRC) , the Political Parties Council (PPC), are fully operational and independently able to execute their role in the interest of people of South Sudan. The institutions must work to guarantee women’s participation, fair and violence free national elections”.
They recognize efforts by government supported by the United Nations (UN) and partners in establishing ad hoc special court on military justice and remind the government of its obligation to end impunity of serious crimes and urge the government to expedite the security sector reform processes and to provide the basic need of armed forces and to ensure that perpetrators of rape and sexual violence are held accountable.
“As South Sudanese and global citizens, we must stand together, speak-up and act against all forms of violence against women and girls in South Sudan. FIDA-SS will continue its joint efforts to support the implementation of the UNSCR 1325 advocating for women’s political participation and protecting women and girls from GBV. The engagement of boys and men as allies to end genderbased violence is equally needed to create a safer society for women and girls”.
They added that Climate change and environmental degradation is exacerbating the risk of violence against women and girls due to displacement, resource scarcity and food insecurity and disruption to service provision to survivors.
“ Even as the country’s leaders are planning to travel to attend the climate of parties COP28 conference in Dubai UAE this month, we remain disappointed that the Environment and forest policies and bills have never been passed into law 12 years after the country’s first independence. These are priority laws that should have come first. We urge the government to equally begin the process of drafting of the climate change policy and law to place a legal obligation on every organ of the government to make sure climate change risks and associated vulnerabilities are acted on with the seriousness that they deserve”.
They said that Freedom from violence will help women and girls reach their educational and professional goals; achieve economic independence; build careers and contribute to the development of their communities and societies at large.
