European Union Ambassador to South Sudan Timo Olkkonen speaks on Eye Radio's Dawn Show. November 27, 2023. (Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio).

The European Ambassador to South Sudan said on Monday those responsible for crimes of Gender-Based Violence in the country should be prosecuted and punished by law.

Timo Olkkonen said there is still a lot of impunity related to the vice across the country.

“Those that are responsible for these acts [S-GBV] need to be brought to justice and unfortunately, the situation in South Sudan is obviously for conflict-related violence, we do have a lot of impunity,” Olkkonen said.

The diplomat’s remarks come as South Sudan joins the rest of the world to observe the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

He said the EU is trying to address this in various ways including supporting the judicial sector through technical assistance to boost the capacity to address these issues.

Olkkonen however stated that a need to be done because institutions such as the judiciary, law enforcement and others, are so weak.

He stressed the need for the government to avail resources to support survivors of GBV.

“Supporting the judicial sector through technical assistance in order to boost the capacity to address these issues, but there is a lot of work to be done because the institutions are so weak.”

“Judiciary, law enforcement and so forth, but in general when we are talking about impunity, it really needs to be addressed.”