Brig. Gen. James Dak Karlo, the deputy spokesperson of police - Credit | Awan Moses/Eye Radio | July 22, 2022

South Sudan National Police Service has raised an alarm over the reports of rampant cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the Pibor Administrative Area and Upper Nile State.

Brigadier General James Dak Karlo, the head of the Special Protection Unit at the South Sudan National Police Service said a similar trend has also been reported in Unity State.

General Dak, who is also the Deputy Police Spokesperson said there is a need to strengthen awareness and advocacy in the states to discourage the vice.

“We have very burning issues in two areas. We have Pibor. The issue of gender-based violence in Pibor is very alarming as well as in Upper Nile and Unity State,” Dak said.

He was speaking at the closure of the National Stakeholders’ Conference on Sexual Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response in Juba on Thursday, August 24.

“So, when making your planning, please make consideration of these three states so they really need some mapping, and our people also need support in disseminating the issue of impunity and advocating the issue of impunity,” he told development partners at the event.

On her part, the national Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare Ayaa Benjamin Warrile said her ministry will work closely with the police and other stakeholders to strengthen GBV response.

“I really like the recommendation that Dark was listing and I think as the Ministry, some points are very important that we will pick up and together work to realize it,” Ayaa said.

This week, the national Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare with support from the UN Mission in South Sudan organized a 3-day national stakeholders conference on SGBV prevention and response.

Held under the theme, “Towards effective SGBV prevention and Response in South Sudan” the conference was meant to strengthen national response to sexual gender-based violence in the country.

About 65 percent of women have experienced some form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) such as child marriage and rape in their lifetime in South Sudan, according to UNDP.

The UN agency says the country still faces problems with access to justice for the victims with an increasing number of backlogged cases because of limitations in judicial and legal aid.

This reportedly leads to lengthy periods of pre-trial detention, delayed justice, and a culture of impunity.

On May 17, 2023, a group of young women called on the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to speed up the process of tabling the Anti-GBV bill before the national parliament.

The women rights advocates said since the bill was presented to the ministry in 2020, no response has been received from the ministry.