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SOUTH SUDAN - WOMEN CALL FOR GREATER REPRESENTATION IN UN SC RESOLUTION 1325 NATIONAL ACTION PLAN, & FOR CEDAW RATIFICATION

 

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South Sudan - Women Call for Greater Representation in UN SC Res 1325 Action Plan +

 

By Mavic Cabrera Balleza - February 12, 2013

 

"The voices of rural women need to be heard in this 1325 National Action Planning process. We need to make sure that their voices are heard because they are the ones who suffer in the conflict. They will also be the implementors of the NAP."  Veronica  Anni Michael from Self Help Women Development, a women's organization based in the West Equatorial state commented emphatically during the first national conference on South Sudan's NAP on the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security held in Juba, South Sudan from January 29-31, 2013.

The Joint Donor Team for South Sudan in collaboration with Eve Organization for Women Development, the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare, and UN Women organized the NAP UNSCR 1325 conference. The conference participants representing national and state level CSOs, government ministries and UN agencies identified the pillars of the NAP namely, participation, protection, prevention and relief and recovery, as well as the priority issues under each pillar. Sexual and gender-based violence, access to justice, access to education and women's political participation, particularly in constitution building, were some of the issues identified. The importance of the participation of rural women and traditional leaders was also highlighted throughout the conference.

Another key point in the discussion is the need to guarantee financing for the NAP implementation and the need to link NAP financing to the "New Deal," the new aid architecture for post-conflict countries or fragile states. At the moment, South Sudan's NAP process does not have a budgetary allocation. To address this situation, the National Steering Committee for the NAP will explore the formation of an International Consortium composed of donors, international CSOs and UN agencies  that will generate quick financial, technical and other forms of support. For the longer term, other financing modalities such as the Multistakeholders Financing Mechanism will be considered.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Betty Achan Ogwaro and Deputy Minister of Gender and Social Welfare Priscilla Nyanyang Joseph, were two of the high-level officials who attended the national conference. Minister Ogwaro highlighted the role of women's organizations like Eve and GNWP in tirelessly lobbying for the implementation of UNSCR 1325.

Following the NAP 1325 national conference, South Sudanese CSOs participated in a  NAP strategy session facilitated by the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP). The CSO strategy session allowed the South Sudanese CSOs to discuss and reflect on their participation in the NAP process.  They came up with additional issues they want reflected in South Sudan's NAP 1325 and 1820 such as protection for peace activists and women human rights defenders; and the need to integrate implementation of women's rights treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other human rights norms into the NAP 1325. A key output at the CSO strategy session on the NAP 1325 was the CSO Statement that will be presented to the National Steering Committee on the NAP 1325. The statement outlines CSO contributions to the NAP process  and calls for an increase in the number of CSO representatives to the National Steering Committee. Currently, there is only one CSO representative out of the 24 members of the National Steering Committee.

The Addis Cooperation Agreement and the NAP 1325 and 1820

The CSO Strategy Session also included a discussion on the Addis Cooperation Agreement between South Sudan and the Sudan. There is a strong link between the NAP and the Addis Cooperation Agreement because women's participation in peace negotiations such as the Addis negotiations is a key pillar of the NAP 1325.  There are no women members in the peace negotiation panels in Addis. Moreover, there is an overarching concern that majority of South Sudanese are not aware or do not understand the agreements. The staff of the Institute for Inclusive Security and a member of the Women Leaders' Network served as resource persons in the discussion on the Addis Cooperation Agreement.

Ratification of CEDAW in South Sudan

The South Sudan CSO Working Group on 1325 also held a consultative discussion to develop an advocacy strategy for the ratification of CEDAW in South Sudan. They agreed on the following next steps: integrate CEDAW in their respective organizations' capacity building initiatives; build partnership with the South Sudan Women Lawyers' Association, Constitutional Review Commission, Women's Parliamentary Caucus,  Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Gender, National Human Rights Commission among others. (Please see below  blog on CEDAW in South Sudan.)

Arabic version of South Sudan civil society monitoring of 1325 launched

The South Sudan civil society 1325 monitoring committee led by Eve Organization for Women Development in partnership with GNWP launched the Arabic version of South Sudan civil society monitoring of 1325 during the first national conference on South Sudan's NAP 1325. The Arabic version was welcomed by all the conference participants as an important tool in raising awareness of the resolution. "This is a very useful document.  Arabic is the language that rural women in South Sudan speak, " said Zeinab Yussin Hagelsafi, an officer from the South Sudan Land Commission.

The CSO Strategy Session, the translation and printing of the Arabic version of South Sudan civil society monitoring of 1325 and the consultative discussion on CEDAW were facilitated by the Gobal Network of Women Peacebuiders with support from Cordaid, ICCO, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.
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Towards Ratification of CEDAW for South Sudan

 

February 2, 2013; Juba Regency Hotel - Juba, South Sudan

By Selamawit Tesfaye

The Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) in collaboration with EVE Organization for Women Development organized a consultation session among civil society organizations at the Juba Regency Hotel on February 2, 2013. The consultation had the objective of raising awareness on CEDAW as well as to identify advocacy strategies around the ratification of the Convention. The training started with a presentation on the introduction and background of CEDAW. Participants were able to gain an understanding of the basic elements of the CEDAW - rights and freedoms enshrined, the role of the Committee, the use of General Recommendations, the Optional Protocol among others. The presentation also included best practices in the use of CEDAW in stopping violence against women, promoting girls' education, improving health care for women, improving women's lives at work, and protecting women's legal rights.

It was startling to note that only 4 women out of the 15 CSO participants have heard of the CEDAW in their line of work and noted that they are engaged in most of the activities related to the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention but are not aware of the instrument itself. They cited that previously the Operation Lifeline, the UN-SPLM aid cooperation for South Sudan, had provided some rules of procedure such as the Geneva Convention and some other human rights instruments making a link to the respect of human rights especially rights of civilians. They also noted that since South Sudan at the moment is drafting its Constitution, now is the time to break the silence and start awareness creation and popularization of the instrument.

Furthermore, during the referendum, one of the government's promises was to protect and promote women's rights and also ratify the CEDAW, which in turn galvanized a lot of women's votes in favor of separation. It was noted that the South Sudanese government wanted to distinguish itself from the North, which is not friendly towards the ratification of CEDAW and thus should be held accountable to its promises.

Another important development that came out of this is the need for enhanced exchange of information that is lacking at the moment in South Sudan. There is also a huge capacity gap that needs to be addressed within the government and other relevant stakeholders, as there are some CSOs who have already initiated advocacy strategies on the CEDAW. Thus, instead of reinventing the wheel, the need for tapping into these kinds of initiatives was acknowledged.

All of the participants agreed on the importance of having the CEDAW ratified to alleviate the promotion and protection of women's rights in South Sudan.  Even though there are a lot of competing interests at the moment, participants identified two entry points in kicking off their activities towards the ratification of CEDAW. The first is integrating CEDAW education in all their current work while the second is identifying relevant stakeholders that needs to be targeted for advocacy strategies on the CEDAW - the Ministry of Gender Child and Social Welfare; Constitutional Review Commission, Parliament, Women's Parliamentary Caucus; Ministry of Justice; and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For now all the parties have identified the steps and are willing to work together on pushing for the ratification of CEDAW for South Sudan. Let's hope that the relevant Ministries and other stakeholders are committed to ratify the CEDAW and enhance the promotion and protection of women's rights in South Sudan.