South Sudan strives to end sexual, gender-based violence

South Sudan has adopted a seven-point agenda aimed at strengthening the fight against impunity on sexual violence on girls and women and Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the war-torn country.

The seven targets which were adopted late on Wednesday included development of ministerial budget to support women, implementation of international protocols , building a national data base to truck GBV prevalence and support to the country's weak justice system.

The other priority areas are nurturing the development of women's leadership to enhance their influence and creating awareness about sexual violence and public sensitization and developing a gender responsive early warning system and indicators to prevent occurrence of sexual crimes in homes and in camps for displaced persons.

The framework was agreed at a high-level dialogue organized by the ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and the UN Development Program (UNDP) following two days of dialogue in the capital Juba between government officials, UN agencies, civil society activists and academia.

"I believe the adopted action points have inclusive participation and create more space for women to voice their concerns including persons with disabilities, indigenous women and women living in poverty and conflict areas," said Rachael Nyandak, South Sudan's Presidential Advisor on Gender and Human Rights.

Nyandak said to end to GBV, state support is needed to empower communities beginning from the grass root leadership such as youth leaders, religious heads and traditional rulers and revamping of awareness on sexual violence.

"It is critical to work closely with other stakeholders to end GBV. Investing in ending sexual violence is cost effective. Therefore, adequate resources must be devoted to the efforts to end GBV and to overcome resistance to women empowerment," she said.

Women in South Sudan have undergone unprecedented levels of violence since the outbreak of civil war in 2013, according to a special UN human rights commission for south Sudan who visited the African country early September.

The commission said acts of sexual violence against women and girls still continue, further accusing authorities for doing little to punish perpetrators of sexual crimes.

But Gender, Child and Social Welfare Minister Awut Deng Achuil said "urgent action between government and development partners is needed to stem out sexual violence."

Achuil said South Sudan is gearing up to implement UN security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, adding that a 5-year national action plan launched in May will help translate the priority areas into actions. Endit