After five years of formation, the South Sudan government has finally launched the Special Court to try perpetrators of gender-based violence.
This was done through the supports from the United Nations Development Program and government of the Kingdom of Netherlands.
The court will accelerate adjudicating sexual and gender based violence cases which has tarnished country’s image within regional and international communities casting blame on the government over the past four years.
“Our plan is that survivors will not be automatically required to give evidence, particularly when there are other evidences available.
“And mechanism should be available to protect the survivor from having to face the accused during trails,” said Aya Benjamin Warile, Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare during the inauguration of the court Thursday last week.
From January to September, 2020, aid agencies said they have recorded at least 6295 GBV incidents in the country, making South Sudan one of the hotspots in Africa.
This included raping of women and girls, demotic abuse, girl child marriage and inequality.
Chan Reec Madut, the Country’s Chief Justice said the arms of the government should work together with development partners to curb the vice in the community adding that players should be trained to handle GBV cases in a professional manner.
“The police need training in handling and investigating cases relating to sexual and gender-based violence,” Chan said.
Representating President Kiir at the event, Paul Mayom Akech, Minister of Interior attributed the rise in GBV incidents to the collapse of the economy which encouraged other forms of GBV such as girl child marriage in South Sudan.
“Drop in oil prices driven by COVID-19 pandemic, comes to mount pressure on the economy and consequently the potential to ignition of violence in all our social setups.
“I want the phenomena of gender based violence to come to an end as soon as possible,” Mayom said.
However, Christy Ahenkora, UNDP Resident Representative said though the court has been setup, without law for legal redress, people will continue to violate human rights.
“Having legal framework helps and in this regard, we look forward to the enactment of anti GBV bill which will address some of the issues around discrimination and ensure the legal potential of GBV survivors,” Ahenkora said.
Bur Ruben Madol, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs said there were enough legislations such as Penal Code and Child Act which could be used to address GBV issues.
“Gender-based violence against women is in the context of family law. We have not yet addressed issues of family law by statute. Secondly, gender-based violence comes in the context of human rights.” Madol said.
he added “There are lots of legislation that deal with GBV. We have provisions of Penal Code. We have also other laws like Child Act dealing with cases of vulnerable people. Yes, we do not have gender based legislation. As of now I am not going to tell that it will be there tomorrow or next tomorrow.”
Addition to Special Gender Based Court, the Juvenile Court was also inaugurated to try children who violate the law.