Radio Miraya
2808: MBS. Empowering Voices: Women Leaders' Communique on Political Participation in South Sudan
On the 16th of this month, August, women leaders of South Sudan released a roundtable of women's political participation and legislative reforms in South Sudan communicate. The leaders represent a cross-section of women's groups and all the networks, including women politicians, civil society members, faith leaders, activists, and also women rights defenders. The community is part of the review process on the implementation of the women's peace and security agenda in South Sudan and all this is quite a mouthful. But we have guests in the studio who are here to break it down for us. Adut Kristina Salva is the executive director of South Sudan Women's Empowerment Network and Doru Josephine Kenyupitier is a program officer, women international peace center. Good morning ladies. Thank you so much for making our time to speak to us today. Good morning Irene. Thank you. It's really a pleasure being here today. Right. Thank you. I'm Josephine. So I want to start with you, Adut, just starting from the top, what is the women's peace and security agenda in South Sudan? Thank you so much for the question. The women's peace and security agenda in South Sudan is to enable most of the things that have been signed with the UN Security Council Resolution 1325. And we're really right now as the community states, we're actually on the nap. And also we want to focus on the four pillars, which is the participation, protection, prevention, relief and recovery. And these are the gaps that are really needed in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan 2015 to 2020 and the draft nap 2020 to 2025. Right. Now, Josephine, on focusing on the political and legislative reforms during the meeting, new raise and express concern about the lack of political will by parties in the government to enforce the 35% affirmative action or representation of women. Help us understand what challenges have you encountered with upholding this quarter? Thank you so much, Josephine, it's my name, as she has stated. As women, we have encountered a lot of challenges in the country as women. As women of South Sudan, we have had a lot of challenges. First of all, talking about the legislation, the legislation that are happening in South Sudan, we've had issues with the family law and the anti-GBV bill that has taken a longer period of time to be passed, and from our experiences, the anti-GBV bill has been one of the most difficult bills to be passed, and we as South Sudanese women are wondering what could be the reason of this bill taking extremely long to be passed? Right. I was about to ask, what components were in there that made it difficult? Exactly. This anti-GBV bill is talking about women's protection, there are so many key articles that provide protection for the women in South Sudan, and right now, we are going through a lot of processes, political processes, let's talk about the elections which is supposed to happen in the 22nd, December 2024. Now, this anti-GBV bill has not been passed. How are we that the women of South Sudan are going to be protected in the case of violence? Now, as with the women are wondering, is there something that we can do different for the bill to be passed, or do we need some expertise to come in for the bill to push for the bill or what? Right. We have a lot of questions that we as women are asking, so we really don't know what we can do. Right. So, what is the women coalition agreeing when it comes to this? We are continuing to law before this to be passed. Yes, as women of South Sudan, we are tired, we have been lobbying, we have been advocating for this, but nothing has worked out. As I said, it has been one of the most difficult bills to be passed. Right. I can tell. Would you like to jump in? Yes. That is one of the reasons why we came up with this, we had to have this communicate passes because we had to express our concerns as well, because we have a lot of the locks in the country and then the persistent lack of political will by the parties and the authority going to enforce the 35 percent affirmative action, which is something we all want. And of recent, we had to also talk about the representation of women in all the political arenas of the country. For instance, we have had this issue of the replacement of women with women, we want women to be replaced with women in all levels and structures of government as well as our concerned also on the subsections of arctic gunner regarding the intersection of the Iraq system, the too many initiatives. Right. And emphasize the need for political consensus at the national dialogue to steer the country to add a peaceful democracy. Right. Now, to my initiative, the community speaks highly quite significantly about the too many initiatives. And you also want the mediators to visit South Sudan or consult broadly as women leaders. What do you want to share with these mediators once they make the move? What I would really want to share is the call on the too many initiatives and its mediators to adopt an inclusive, transparent and people-centered mediation process, including visiting South Sudan to consult with conflict-affected communities, stakeholders and the broader population to gather their views and also experiences. However, we also had a concern with the fact that we had this concern, why there was an absence of key principle leaders from the whole groups and led by General Thomas Cyrillo and Emmanuel Ajawin in the too many initiatives, which also needed the government also to give us maybe an update of what's happening, not only the Juba people, but also at the sub-national level of the country. Right. Thank you so much for that. Josephine, you have recommendations as the women to the government of South Sudan and you want sufficient funding for the Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare. How is the underfunding of these crucial ministries such as these affecting gender-focused programs across the country? Thank you so much. You know, without funds, things cannot move well here. So our recommendation to the government for them to allocate some funds to the Minister of Gender is for them to show commitment. You know, when you put money in something, that means you will show commitment. So for us, we feel that the government of South Sudan should allocate sufficient funding to the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare to support its implementation. Because we need to implement this nationwide. You know, we have 10 states and the three administrative areas. So we need the NAP. We need sufficient funds for this NAP so that after its launch, because it's taking really quite a long time, it's supposed to, it's from 2020 to 2025 and we're already in 2020-24. And this NAP has not yet been launched. So you can imagine, yes, you can imagine the gaps. So if funds have not been channeled, channeled, or allocated to this, we don't know. Yeah. Yes. In the community, there is an appeal to peace partners to support women groups in conducting civic education and peace building. What gaps exist in this particular issue? There are so many gaps that exist. First and foremost, the lack of technical support to the government, and we need really the peace partners to provide technical support to the government in implementing peace agreements, including the Two Main Peace Initiative, the NAP and then the SDG, Goal 5 on gender equality, and then also support civil society and women groups in conducting civic education, promoting dialogue and peace building. The third, I would also like these people to go and do is to continue supporting resilience and livelihood programs to address humanitarian crisis, especially in conflict and flood affected communities, as well as support institutional and legislative reform processes by strengthening the capacity of government institutions such as the police, the prisons, the judiciary, the medical units, the Ministry of Justice, and constitutional affairs, and parliament in responding to JBV prevention and response, as well as the UN, particularly, we would like the UN to allocate funds to support programs that promote UN security, cancer resolution in 1325 through women's empowerment, protection and prevention of JBV. Just as we conclude this conversation, as women's groups, if you are given the necessary support technique on funding, what do you pledge to do on the promotion of protection of women and girls? Thank you so much. What we will do is to conduct a nationwide civic education, sensitization, and dialogue on key anti-JBV and family law bills, and then we'll also carry out mass campaigns and raise awareness on women's rights at the grassroots level, focusing on the bill of rights and the Maputo Protocols as it was launched, we need to domesticated and do the implementation thoroughly, and then we'll also strengthen women's movement, building and solidarity at various levels to ensure accountability. Then we'll also engage in illegal and policy reforms through advocacy, analysis, and dialogue with key institutions to promote gender, equality and inclusive processes. And we'll also enhance existing peace forums in all the 10 states and the three administrative areas to bridge the information gap between the two main peace processes, the air access and the grassroots populations. These forums should support information sharing and provide feedback mechanisms, and finally, will utilize technology for information sharing among citizens through online, networking and learning. Right, finally, I would like to end with you, what must be done to ensure that these conversations of strengthening participation of women are not only urban-centered, but they reach the remote areas in all the states and administrative areas in the country. Thank you so much, Irene, for the question. This is not a one-man's doing. It needs all of us. The stakeholders involved in making this peace process initiative perfect for the country. It requires the government to expedite the adoption of the NAP 2020-2025, and to locate sufficient funding. It also needs also the government of Canada to come in, and also continue engaging with all hold-out groups under the two main peace initiatives and expedite the mediation process to achieve lasting peace in the country. And also the peace partners, as we have previously talked, as well as the women groups and civil society organizations, because they communicate, reflects our collective commitment to advancing women's political participation and legislative reforms in the country. So we urge all stakeholders to act on these recommendations to ensure a more equitable and peaceful future for South Sudan. Right. Thank you so much there. Joseph, what's your last remark? My last remarks for this is that we thought as all coming together, this cannot work. So as women, we need all to come and talk as women. We should have language of women. And the government should also adhere to us, because we are the mothers of the nation. Right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I do thank you so much for your time.