Interior Minister Anglina Teny speaks at the launch of the 16 Days of Activism occasion at Nyakuron Cultural Center in Juba, November 29, 2023. (Photo: Uma Julius)

Interior Minister Angelina Teny on Wednesday called for enactment of legislations against Gender-Based Violence, as South Sudan marks 16 Days of global anti-GBV campaign.

Speaking during the 16 Days of Activism launch in Juba, Angelina said gender-based violence hinders society’s efforts to unlock the full potentials of women and girls.

“Violence against women is a societal issue requiring involvement of all stakeholders. There is need to strengthen laws that protect our women and girls from violence,” Angelina noted.

South Sudan requires a strategic plan to enable government to allocate a budget for the elimination of the violence against women campaign, according to an official.

The 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence is an annual international campaign to defy violence against all women and girls. The global campaign annually runs from November 25

Ms. Teny, who spoke on behalf of the Gender, Child and Social Welfare minister, acknowledged the important role customary courts play in resolving family cases in communities within the country.

Violence against women and girls in South Sudan remains an endemic problem inhibiting the full participation of women in decision making at the community, economy and the society in general, report said.

The acting Undersecretary in the Gender, Child and Social Welfare ministry, Joseph Loro said a lot has been done about policies and awareness raising on gender-based violence in the country.

“A multi-sectorial approach is needed to tackle gender-based violence challenges,” he explained, while calling for the expeditious enactment of the anti-gender-based violence and family laws.

Violence disproportionately affects women living in low and lower middle-income countries.

An estimated 37% of women living in the poorest countries have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their life, with some of these countries having a prevalence as high as 1 in 2, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Director, Ademola Olajide stated.

“We cannot make sustainable economic progress if we cannot ably address gender-based violence in societies. There is thus needed to change norms that underestimate our women and girls,” he stated.

Meanwhile SSLS called upon the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) to use the 16 Days of Activism as an opportunity to expedite the enactment of the anti-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Bill, Family Bill and Women Enterprise Development Fund.

“We are therefore calling upon the media, all stakeholders and the general public to participate in the campaign and invest to support the advancement of women rights,” it noted in a statement.

This year’s campaign theme; Unite! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls calls for global action to focus on financing different prevention strategies to stop violence from occurring.

– Appeals for anti-GBV laws –

On October 15, 2023, a workshop on safeguarding women rights has reiterated calls for enactment of Family Law and the Anti-Gender-Based Violence Bill to counter harmful customary laws.

Mary Puru Michael, a lawmaker at the national parliament urged abolition of harmful traditional practices that promote Gender Based Violence and undermine women rights in the country.

She further said customary laws are responsible for almost all forms of ill-treatment against women and girls.

In 2020, a women-led organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Child Social Welfare, UNFPA and other organizations presented the Anti GBV bill to the Ministry of Justice.

And in May 2023, a group of women called on the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to speed up the tabling of the Anti GBV bill before parliament.

But there has been no tangible progress since then.

According to a study conducted by South Sudan Law Society (SSLS) and Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), up to 90 % of gender-based violence cases are heard in customary courts presided by older male judges with deeply ingrained patriarchal views, which generally condone domestic violence.

South Sudan, the 2018 study revealed, accounts for the second highest prevalence case of GBV in the region.

A substantial proportion of its women (aged 15-64), it observed, experience gender-based violence either in the form of physical (34.0%) or sexual (13.5%) violence in their lifetime.