Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Gender-Based Violence (GBV) advocates in Juba have waded into murky waters of breaking silence on the prevalence of ferocity among the communities through skill-based training.
The moulded participants now say they are better armed to reach out to the communities in a move to put an end to impunity across the country. In 2021, the South Sudan Health authorities said it responded to about 330 cases of rape, physical violence among other issues related to the gender gap in the country.
The cases included physical assaults, defilements, and rapes against young women and girls. But in a bid to break the chain and bridge the gap this year, Active Citizen South Sudan, a national youth organization took an initiative to reach out to the young people and mentored them to be gender advocates to achieve a gender-sensitive society.
The initiative was also aimed at engaging communities through the equipped workforce to help rescue people from pertinent invisible domestic violence in the communities. Gai Makiew Gai, a Project Officer for the organization, said the move was necessary as it equips the learners with skills to end GBV.
“We are capacitating the young people so that they can go to the community and help save the affected communities. We call them GBV agents, and we are giving them necessary skills so that they can lessen GBV cases among the people,” he said.
Gai made the statement during an exclusive interview with The City Review last Friday. About 25 participants both males and females of Luri Payam in Central Equatoria State were sensitized to execute the task
Mr. Gai stressed that the communities have been undermining the GBV issues as in most cases it is left to the victims’ families. “It is considered as a taboo. When it happens; it is left to parents of the victims to handle without communities’ intervention,” he decried.
Based on the previous reports, South Sudan has faced Gender-Based Violence reporting challenges as the victims do not disclose the happenings to the concerned authorities.
“A girl cannot disclose that she has been rapped. So, this is the situation we have been experiencing and this is why we are creating awareness so that the GBV issues are brought to light if they happen,” the campaigner added.
According to Mr. Gai, the initiative is truly going to change the local mindsets of the locals on the GBV situation given that locals were sensitized to know its consequences.
“With the skills, we are giving them, the 25 GBV agents will be able to engage the community members in their capacities as we give the knowledge to make the communities understand that GBV needs to be eradicated,” he said.
James Deng Bol, one of the trained GBV agents, promised to take a lead in sensitizing his peers on the vices. “I must attest that people have continuously faced the GBV information gap. But given this initiative, it will help me to alert people on its consequences,” he explained.
Mr. Bol stressed that it was high time for the South Sudanese to enlighten the communities in a bid to break the GBV silence. “The community leaders need to be involved too; we need to tell them about the GBV and its dangers,” he said.
Mr. Bol hopes to also reach out to South Sudanese on various social media platforms for the intended motive to be achieved. He stressed that the South Sudanese should shun the old traditional norms around gender and build gender parity culture now.
Nyankanitha Magaw, a resident of Mangateen is calling on the government to work closely with local organizations to end the impunity against women. “We are the victims; we have been highly affected in South Sudan, and we feel that it is something that is supposed to be eliminated. It needs to be eradicated so that women enjoy the same rights as males,” she explained.
Ms. Magaw cautioned the male counterparts against exercising their manhood in their families’ affairs, saying they should treat women as their sisters.
“If there is a problem between man and the wife; they should always sit down and settle it, without escalating it. No need for beat the women off,”
Past situation
In 2021, South Sudanese women urged the government to address issues of gender-based violence. According to the women group, they have continued to experience gender abuses in silence, and with limited opportunities to speak out on the level of the crimes.
They said it had been a challenge for the government to bring the perpetrators to justice In the same year, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the GBV was drafted, approved and initialled to guide the special protection unit of the South Sudan National Police Service in fighting gender-based violence crimes across the country.
This came as a result of a need to professionalize the police units in combating criminalities related to hardly attended topics. Perhaps, the current initiative supported by the German Cooperation, through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is expected to enrich the local understanding of the efforts to end the GBV and prioritize on a solution-based approach.
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