A group photo of participants of the one-day event that was organized by the Steward Women Organization with support from the British Embassy on Tuesday in Juba on Dec. 12, 2023- Credit: Baria Johnson/Eye Radio

A community dialogue has called for awareness raising and training of Chiefs to sensitize communities on the stigmatization of survivors of Gender-Based violence.

The one-day event was organized by the Steward Women Organization with support from the British Embassy on Tuesday in Juba.

Paramount Chief Simon Tuach Gatluak at the Mangateen B court says there is a need for chiefs to be trained on how to tackle the stigma faced by Gender-Based Violence survivors.

The paramount chief who spoke at the end of the Community dialogue in Juba on Tuesday says the training should not be a one-day event but a continued process for them to get experience.

“Workshops need to be done more often it should not just be a one-day training because if it is a one-day training we will not benefit so if there is such a training it has to be more than one day so that we get to experience it,” said Paramount Chief Simon Tuach.

On her part, Chief Mary Nyadhiel stresses the need for workshops between chiefs and the country commissioners on how to report on GBV cases.

She also empathizes with the importance of raising awareness of GBV in schools and churches.

“My recommendations are that rules need to be made clear and there is also a need for workshops for chiefs and commissioners so that they know how to report the issue of GBV from the level of the state to the counties secondly we need awareness raising in churches and schools,” said  Chief Mary.

Meanwhile, Alex Sagin, an advocate in Juba calls for the provision of mental health facilities for the survivors of GBV.

“There is a need to provide survivors with mental health facilities because they usually undergo trauma for a very long time and also medical facilities maybe they have been infected or unwanted pregnancies and in case the survivor conceives then there should be these facilities that have a choice either to keep the pregnancy or terminate it,” said Alex.