South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), Maj. Gen. Charles Tai Gituai on Friday encouraged women groups to organize and increase their political participation.
“RJMEC encourages women to engage multiple stakeholders in their circles of influence, key among that is to appeal to the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity, to take action to improve the environment for women’s participation through programming and interventions targeted at investing in women to accelerate progress,” Gituai said in a statement issued in Juba.
Gituai made these remarks during the celebration of International Women’s Day in Juba.
He encouraged the parties to 2018 revitalized peace agreement to facilitate the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of the peace implementation process.
“The letter and spirit of the gender provisions in the Revitalized Peace Agreement are deep and far-reaching, and aimed at creating a conducive environment for women in South Sudan to actively participate in the political, economic and social life of their country,” said Gituai.
Gituai also noted that the slow implementation of the different chapters of the peace agreement affects women’s meaningful participation in the ongoing political and constitution-making processes.
“How will women participate when they and their families remain hungry, lack protection, are stuck in refugee or IDP camps, have no IDs, no access to basic services, and are preoccupied with the challenge of feeding their families without access to income or productive resources?” he asked.
South Sudan is due for elections in December 2024 but several pending issues such as the enactment of the permanent constitution, full deployment of the 83,000 unified forces, conducting of population census and repatriation of refugees and internally displaced persons are yet to be completed.