R-JMEC meeting on Thursday. March 30, 2023. | Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio.

The transitional government must uphold the 35% quota for women’s representation and any female officeholder relieved should be replaced by a woman rather than a man, stakeholders at the 38^th Plenary Meeting of peace monitoring mechanism R-JMEC said.

The concern was raised during discussions on enforcing gender balance in political and legislative positions, and ensuring that women play a central role in the country’s leadership and peacebuilding processes.

Stakeholders warned that replacing women leaders with male appointees would undermine gender equity efforts which are crucial to peacebuilding and governance.

The demand also aligns with resolutions from the recent National Conference on Women, Peace and Security, which reinforced that women’s full involvement in governance is crucial to achieving lasting peace in South Sudan.

Lorna James, Deputy Chair of the Political Parties Council, called on authorities to remain faithful to the gender quota, noting that maintaining women’s presence in leadership is essential for sustainable peace.

“We are not only implementing the 35% but we also asking the government that in case of revocation, when a female leader is revoked. They are supposed to at least be replaced by a female,” she said.

“In case they may also need to replace a female with a man, and when a man is revoked then a female should be brought so that will make it balanced but if they don’t do that, then we really urge that we commit to 35% so that we will have women not only as voters this time but also as candidates that can stand for offices.”

Charles Tai, Interim Chairperson of the peace monitoring mechanism R-JMEC, also stressed the importance of safeguarding women’s representation in appointments, saying that reducing the number of female leaders undermines ongoing peace efforts.

“In terms of women’s representation in the executive and legislative appointments, RJMEC would like to emphasize the importance of the minimum 35% threshold for their representation,” Gituai said.

“It is important to remind the Parties that when replacements in these appointments take place, they should not reduce the overall count of women in these positions. Instead, women’s representation should be increased in executive and legislative appointments.”

In September, the Executive Director of Center for Inclusive Governance Peace and Justice (CIGPJ), said the 35 percent quota for women in the 2018 peace agreement might be diminishing due to replacement of women with men in political leadership through decrees.

Ms. Nasiwa said her organization – in collaboration with the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) – was able to do analysis about women’s participation at all levels.

Nasiwa said the factsheet has found that the participation of women is dropping due to the ongoing political leadership changes, an example of which is the removal of Central Equatoria deputy governor and Juba city mayor – whose positions are occupied by men.

Among the women who were revoked and replaced by men were the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defense, several members of the National Legislative Assembly. Others were the Deputy Governor of Central Equatoria, the Mayor of Juba City Council, among others.