Monica Villanueva, Acting Health Director for USAID in South Sudan (left), Viola Aluel, Gender Analyst at the United Nations Population Fund (right) and Dr. Dennis Mwanza, the Chief of Party of DT Global Afia WASH speaking to Eye Radio's Dawn Program. November 25th, 2022. (Photo: Lou Nelson/Eye Radio).

As the world marks the 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence, the US Agency for International Development has called for collective efforts to end the vice in the country.

The Acting Health Director for USAID in South Sudan Monica Villanueva says gender-based violence is heinous and should be given more attention by all stakeholders.

She is encouraging the public to engage in collective efforts to minimize gender-based violence in the country.

“It is not just the 16 days, we encourage the listeners here [and the public] not only to think about GBV, but really remain committed to an action that you want to do this year to end GBV,” Monica said.

“If all of us were to commit to one action and hopefully at the community level, then we can make a difference. Act and commit yourself to a year-long process of minimizing the risk to women for violence.”

Sexual and gender-based violence is any act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and is based on gender norms and unequal power relationships.

It encompasses threats of violence and coercion.

It can also be physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual, and can take the form of a denial of resources or access to services.

Such acts of violence inflict harm on women, girls, men and boys.

For her part, Viola Aluel, a gender analyst at the United Nations Population Fund said the agency has recorded more than 7,000 cases of gender-based violence in the country last year.

“From the statistics you will see that last year we [UNFPA] recorded 7,500 instance of gender-based violence from 15 data gathering organizations and that’s covering the period of January to December 2021,” Aluel said.

“From what we have seen in this system is that 97 percent of survivors of gender-based violence are women and girls. Now when we look at the age bracket of these survivors, you will see that 23 percent of survivors are below the age of 15.”

“So what does that tell us as a country? Is that majority of survivors are young girls and they account for 70 percent of sexual violence. It means sexual violence among children or perpetrated among adolescent girls is a major concern in this country.”

 According to several reports, most gender-based violence cases are perpetrated by men.

The 16 days of activism against gender-based violence is an annual campaign that begins on 25 November.

It begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and runs through International Human Rights Day on 10 December.

Led by civil society, the campaign is supported by the United Nations.

This year, the UN marks the 16 Days under the theme “UNiTE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”.

 Dr. Dennis Mwanza, the Chief of Party of DT Global Afia WASH, a USAID-supported project – is calling on men to desist from gender-based violence crimes.

“I want to appeal to the men out there that it is not manly to be perpetrating gender-based violence,” he said.

“If you promote peaceful living with women with our families, I think that is what is manly. GBV is a crisis, this country is endowed with so much resources, we should not spend all our energies on wrong things, which is GBV, it is a setback to development.”