Matia Samuel
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The South Sudan head of the youth delegation for Sustainable Development Goals General Assembly to the United Kingdom Yom Benjamin appealed to the government to strengthen its efforts on girl child education in the country.
“I believe that there are many challenges facing the girl child here in South Sudan, I don’t think girls are given a voice and space,” she said as she spoke during the Youth for SDGs dialogue on Tuesday in Juba.
Yom said she believes education is a universal human right, where every girl child in South Sudan must have access to education.
“We continue to encourage them (girls) to take up civic space to continue to follow up their education, and to take their education seriously because they can achieve whatever they would like to achieve in this world.”
She said the government should continue to push for access to education for all girls, including those at the grassroots who have no access to education.
According to the UN report, girls are often forced into marriage as young as 14 in South Sudan, a situation that also contributes to the country’s dismal maternal health statistics.
Only 27 percent of girls are in primary school, and a recent UN report show girls are more likely to die than attend receive an education.
Also, Ms. Yom revealed that the UN youth SDGs delegation from South Sudan is expected to take part in the upcoming UN General Assembly on SDGs in New York.
“We are looking forward to sharing with the world how beautiful our country is, how intelligent our youth are, the capacity that we have in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Yom said.
She stated that the program will emphasize youth voices, especially SDGs on access to clean water, health care, education and climate change among other issues.
Yom appealed to fellow youth to embrace unity in order to address their challenges.
“Youth have come together in harmony and in collaboration, and that is our strongest assertion. We can change South Sudan, we can change East Africa, we can change the world,” she stated.
The 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Summit is expected to take place on September 18 to 19 2023 in New York.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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