Juba Teaching Hospital Maternity and Gynecology Ward. (-)

At least 790 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) were registered at the Juba Teaching Hospital One-Stop Center between July and December 2025, according to a legal officer at the facility

Advocate Christina Yacob, a legal officer who joined the center in July, revealed the figures during a stakeholder engagement on the gender analysis of draft legislation.

She reported a sharp rise in reported incidents, specifically highlighting a disturbing trend of perpetrators targeting young children. “We do receive many cases from July up to December last year. We receive almost 790 cases of GBV. And most cases are rape cases,” Yacob stated.

“The increase in the rape cases, especially of kids—even boys from the age of 5, 6, 7, and 8, also to girls at this age—so that is raising an alarm that now the perpetrators are targeting the kids.”

While the legal officer attributed the increase in reports to successful community awareness campaigns, she emphasized that the evidence points to a painful reality: most suspects are individuals known to the victims.

“What came to my mind, of course, is the awareness that we have raised to the communities; now they know how to report if a girl is raped,” She said.

“The ongoing cases of GBV, some perpetrators are convicted—now they know. And what that has meant is that most of the perpetrators are either neighbours, relatives within the family, or people who are renting or living with us within the area, or renting with us within the house, even men in uniform,” Yacob explained.

The legal officer specifically identified Gumbo-Sherika, Gudele, and Gurei as “hotspots” for these crimes. In Gurei, she alleged that some perpetrators are security personnel deployed to the area, citing direct testimonies from survivors seeking medical and legal aid.

“There are the hot spot areas, like Gumbo-Sherika, Gurei, and Gudele. In Gurei, there is a police force, the people who are deployed there. They are the ones committing this. I am saying this with evidence—the survivors who reported that. Those people are the ones raping them,” she alleged.

The findings have renewed urgent calls for stronger protection measures, increased accountability, and comprehensive legal reforms to address GBV and safeguard vulnerable populations, particularly children, across South Sudan.