Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Active Citizen South Sudan held a workshop to enlighten women on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, on women, peace and security as well as other related peace building tools in a bid to push for durable peace among the communities across the country.
Angelina Stephen Ban, the Project Coordinator for the organization said the initiative was critical since most of the women do not know about their role on peace building.
“Firstly, most of the women do not know their rights and obligations entailed in the International Treaties like the right to protection and safety and other gender-based violence acts again them,” she explained.
“So, we undertook the initiative because there was a gap to have sensitized women on relevance peace ideas, and especially the UN Security Council Resolution,”Ms.Ban added.
Ms. Ban revealed that the women would be the custodians of their rights as a result of the empowerment, especially once they were violated.
“Since women have already known that they have some rights that need to be respected, they will nowplay a role of reporting to the relevant authorities once they are interfered with, since they have already known their right,” she added.
On peace building perspectives, Ms. Ban noted that women play greater role in peace when it comes to war and conflict and urged them to be actors of peace in the communities.
“Women should be main actors of peace through some of the peace building tools, for instance, negotiation and mediation and they are supposed to use the skills during the daily lives,” she added.
The initiative was conducted with support by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) across Greater Luri payam in a move to educate vulnerable women on their role in peace and security.
About 30 young women, especially the breadwinners in the families participated in the event. The event aimed at reaching 10,000 participants both offline and online readers in South Sudan capital Juba.
Nyahok Kulang, a 28-year-old Mangateen resident in Juba said she could by then reflect on women’s relevance in peace building, days after the sensitization on UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR).
“We appreciated the Active Citizen South Sudan for this opportunity. This will make it possible for some of us to embark on advocating for our participation in peace and security,” she narrated.
“I will now be able to influence some of my neighbours in the community leadership and even chiefs on importance of women participation in peace building process,” Ms. Kulang added.
The resident noted that since the training focused on the impact of violence on women and girls,their role in conflict prevention and peace building as women was full participation in such issues that would be crucial to build peaceful communities in South Sudan.
“Too often, women’s roles are marginalized because they are not seen in leadership positions,” Ms. Kulang said.
“Women must be seen as leaders, not victims. Women participation must be viewed, not as a favor to women, but as essential to peace and security,” Ms. Kulang added.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, on women, peace and security, was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on October 31, 2000 after recalling other resolutions.
The resolution acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls.
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