Juvenile offenders at the reformatory school in Juba. (Photo/Michael Daniel).

A social worker at Juba Central Prison is urging parents to monitor their children’s behaviors and raise them in a righteousness in order to help them avoid illegal activities and criminal records.

Officer Linda Milla from Juba Central Prison said children’s involvement in crime has negative repercussions on their psychological wellbeing.

Ms. Milla called on parents not to blame difficult economic circumstances as a reason for not guiding children.

“I ask parents in South Sudan to protect their children so that they do not commit crimes at an early age,” she said.

“It is not good for the child to have a criminal record at this age because dealing with the police and entering and leaving prison harms the child’s psychological wellbeing.”

In December 2023 the Director of Central Equatoria’s Legal Department revealed that over 300 juvenile inmates have not been provided legal aid to face trial.

Sabri Wani Ladu suggested that a law be enacted for the establishment of a legal aid directorate to address the challenge.

“The fear is the continuation of committing crimes and becoming. a criminal, despite the difficulty of life and living conditions, but this does not prevent us from providing advice to children.”

“At least we have to sit with our children an hour a day and provide them with some guidance.”

In October 2023, the Director-General of the National Prison Service revealed that there were over 1,014 juvenile prisoners in custody across the country with Juba, Wau and Rumbek central prisons the most overcrowded.

On her part, Lily Manas, a counsellor at the one-stop center at Juba Teaching Hospital, urged families to report any GBV cases as soon as it happens to access service.

Madam Manas said the Counselling Centre provides a free hotline number for reporting.

“For the case of rape, we tell people that you need to report within 72 hours so that the survivor will get some medication that prevents him/her from getting infected with other sexual-related diseases or pregnancy.”

“If any crime related to gender-based violence occurs, you must report it by using the hotline toll-free number 0922 283 700.”

“You must report when the crime occurs because in many cases, we find that families report a case 4 or 6 days after the incident has occurred and sometimes, we even receive the case after one or two months, which is not effective.”

Major Siti Fedrick the head of Gender Desk at the Mauna Police Station GBV also also called on the public to report GBV crimes, adding that failure to report and cover up the crime is considered a crime according to the law.

“Failure to report the crime is considered a cover-up of the crime, and this in itself is a crime and is punishable by law. Therefore, we must report crimes of gender-based violence. so that we can take legal measures.”

The experts were speaking during a talk show brought to you by UNDP in partnership with Eye Radio with support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Friday.