South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
A new policy aimed to protect victims of gender-based violence has been approved on Friday by cabinet.
Dr. Jacob Mijok Korok, Deputy Minister for Information, Communication, Technology and Postal Services said that the objective of establishing safe homes is to support the survivors through protection and recovery away from the perpetrators.
“The objective of these guidelines is to ensure that supervisors of gender-based violence receive a holistic, effective and comprehensive response service of support, prevention and protection,” Korok told journalists after the weekly cabinet meeting in Juba.
The Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Aya Benjamin presented a memo before the cabinet to establish and manage safe homes that will provide protection and recovery for domestic violence victims.
Korok said the proposal also aims to set minimum rules, standards and procedures that should be followed by both public and private sectors intending to establish and manage safe homes for survivors of gender-based violence in the country.
He said this policy is very crucial and can help to fight bad practices in different ethnic groups in the country.
“Take for instance Nilotics, Dinka, Murle, Nuer andToposa are practicing forced marriages and we really should not entertain this kind of policy or practice,” he said.
“You find that a young girl is engaged to an old man and when she refuses, and then the family will force her to marry, which is really against international law,” Korok explained.
