USAID partners speak on Eye Radio's Dawn Show ahead of the 16 Days of Activism Against GBV. November 24, 2023. (Photo: Awan Moses).

Four implementing partners of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are calling for collective efforts to end all forms of violence against women and girls in South Sudan on the eve of 16 Days of GBV campaign.

According to the UN Women, violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most prevalent human rights violations, taking place every day, many times over, in every corner of the globe.

It is said to have serious short-and long-term physical, economic and psychological consequences on women and girls – preventing their full and equal participation in society.

Boboya James, USAID’s Senior Technical Advisor for Sustainable Independent Media Activity said all stakeholders must redouble their efforts in ending gender-based violence in the country.

“The responsibility of ending gender-based violence in South Sudan is a responsibility of everybody, so people need to it more seriously,” he said on Eye Radio’s Dawn Show.

“We need to engage on the issues about empowering communities to be able to address some of those issues, we also need to work towards defining the roles of men and boys in terms of achieving gender equity and how they can get involved in fighting some of the gender stereotypes that are impacting the various gender-based violence in South Sudan.”

Stella Lolik, Gender Specialist of USAID’s Youth Empowerment Activity said ending GBV is a collective responsibility of everyone.

She also called on women, girls and youth to attend awareness campaigns to acquaint themselves with preventive measures against GBV.

“I want to encourage people that there are programs there, the investments by donors, which is an investment by the US government, supporting women, empowerment of youth, so take advantage of such programs when there is an awareness complain go and listen,” she said.

On his part, James Labadia, Gender Specialist USAID – Afia WASH, appealed to men and boys to be the friends of women and girls to prevent GBV cases in the society.

“Let us perpetrate gender-based violence, it is a human rights concern, it is life threatening, therefore let us have this harmony and family.”

“It is easy and good for men to speak about gender-based violence so that others can learn from. Let us be allies but not be protectors, let us be ally of women and girls and of everyone in community.”

On Saturday, South Sudan will join the rest of the world to observe 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

For her part, Ayite Muna, a Gender Specialist of USAID-Shejeh Salam – said action to end GBV should not only be during the 16 days of activism, but rather on daily basis.

“Our action should not stop within the campaign period; it should be something that we have within ourselves to raise awareness and campaign against gender-based violence continuously.”

“So, it shouldn’t be like okay we have a campaign period, we are talking about GBV, from 25^th November to 10^th December we end there, no, it should be a continuous action.”

The 16 Days of Activism against GBV is an annual international campaign that kicks off on 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

The campaign was started by activists at the inauguration of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991.

It is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

Every year, the UNITE Campaign focuses on a specific theme and this year’s is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”. 

The campaign calls on citizens to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls by sharing the actions they are taking to create a world free from violence towards women.

In South Sudan, about 65 percent of women have experienced some form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) such as child marriage and rape in their lifetime, according to the UNDP.

The UN agency adds that the country still faces problems with access to justice for the victims with an increasing number of backlogged cases because of limitations in judicial and legal aid.

This reportedly leads to lengthy periods of pre-trial detention, delayed justice, and a culture of impunity.

In May 2023, a group of young women petitioned the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to speed up the process of tabling the Anti-GBV bill before the national parliament.