Community members, government officials, and a UNMISS team assessed the situation in Gangura on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Photo: Jackson Gaaniko/Eye Radio

YAMBIO, South Sudan (Eye Radio) – The Acting Governor of Western Equatoria State has strongly condemned the practice of detaining men and women together in makeshift cells in Gangura, Yambio, calling it “another crime inside.”

James Severino Morris, who also serves as the Minister for Local Government and Law Enforcement, spoke in Gangura Payam yesterday.

He voiced deep concern over the lack of proper police infrastructure, which forces officers to hold all suspects, regardless of gender, in a single, community-built room.

According to local youth and chiefs, police officers in Gangura operate under trees, with no formal police post or shelter. The only available “cell” is a small, improvised structure provided by the community.

Acting Governor Morris pledged to raise the issue with higher authorities, emphasizing the severe risks posed by such mixed-gender detention.

“When they are detaining them together with the men, and then they take them to one room with the men, what happens there nobody knows. It’s another crime inside there,” Morris stated.

“It’s very bad to put a woman and a man in one cell. I felt it myself. Suppose it’s my sister, suppose my wife, my child. So, that feeling we should have it.”

Violation of rights

Odetta Miwai, a civil society activist in Yambio, stressed that this practice directly violates South Sudan’s Criminal Procedure Code.

The code mandates the separation of detainees by gender and age, aiming to protect women from potentially harmful or humiliating situations and to uphold their right to dignity and privacy during arrest and interrogation.

In response to the challenge, Jane Kony, Head of the UNMISS Field Office in Western Equatoria, acknowledged the issue and expressed support for improving security infrastructure.

Residents of Gangura are now appealing to the state government, UNMISS, and humanitarian organizations to urgently construct safe and gender-sensitive detention and administrative facilities. Their plea is to uphold the rights and dignity of all detainees in the area.