Women leaders in Aweil South County Northern Bahr el Ghazal State are calling on the government and partners to train women on how to report gender-based violence cases to the concerned institutions.
Gender-based violence or GBV is an umbrella term for harmful acts of abuse perpetrated against a person’s will and rooted in a system of unequal rights.
According to human rights partners, gender-based violence can happen to anyone, though it disproportionately affects women and girls.
However, they say most survivors do not report the abuses to the relevant authorities due to ignorance or fear of reprisals.
“We the women here is Aweil South have a lot of GBV cases but there is not any single day a training has been conducted for woman to raise awareness about a gender-based violence,” Amou Majok said on behalf of women leaders during a peace rally in Aweil South County on Monday.
According to the data at the ministry, only 48 cases of gender-based violence have been reported between January and October.
“So, I’m requesting those who gathered here today to organize for us a training of 50 women to ensure that women here in Aweil South learn something about gender-based violence.”
In response, the minister of gender, child and social welfare agreed to train women to combat GBV in the community.
Mary Arkangelo Bak disclosed that she has already met with partners such as IRC, CIPAD, UNICEF and others on the matter:
“GBV cases are still happening in the counties, and we are struggling together with partners on how to empower people at the grassroots level to help in reporting the cases to concerned authorities,” Ms Arkangelo disclosed.