Minister reiterates commitment to end GBV

The Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Ayaa Benjamin Warille, reiterated on Tuesday her government’s commitment to end violence against women and girls in the country.
Ayaa Benjamin Warille, Minister of Gender Child and Social Welfare (4th L) and Angelina Teny, Minister of Interior (4th R)

By Simon Deng

The Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Ayaa Benjamin Warille, reiterated on Tuesday her government’s commitment to end violence against women and girls in the country.

 “As the ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ending violence against women and girls in the country, both in times of peace and conflict,” said Warille during the ceremony marking the End of 16 Days of Activism Against GBV in Juba.

She revealed that the government together partners including civil society and the UN agencies have done so much during the 16 days of Activism campaign.

“We do that by engaging communities in decision-making processes and empowering them with knowledge, skills and resources. Together with our partners, we aim to address the devastating impact of sexual violence in conflict and empower communities to build a safer and more resilient society,” said Warille.

 Angelina Teny, Minister of Interior said the government has made commitments to ending conflict-related sexual violence as stipulated under the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

“We have committed field commanders to take responsibility to prevent gender based violence. We have committed ourselves to a number of international instruments in that regard. Now, we need to move forward. We need to do more,” said Teny.

Teny said they have recently validated the white paper on defense and security and as well the policy framework for the security sector which is a key requirement of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

She also said that one of the features in the policy framework is the institutionalization of not only gender equity, gender equality and gender mainstreaming but also gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence.

“We cannot continue to address issues of conflict-related sexual violence in a sporadic manner or through committees. There is need to institutionalize in the concerned institutions that this becomes part of the structures and the architecture of our security sector agencies,” said Teny.

The Global 16 Days Campaign is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls which runs every year from 25th  November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10th  December, Human Rights Day.

The 16 days of Activism campaign was supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) among other partners.

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