The Ministry of Gender in Eastern Equatoria State, with support from the UNMISS Gender Unit in the Torit Field Office, launched a state taskforce on gender based violence (GBV) and child-related sexual violence (CRSV) on Wednesday.
The taskforce comprises different institutions including the government, UN agencies, civil society, international NGOs and women groups among others.
Dominica Idwa, the state director general for gender, clarified that the task force will not substitute the GBV Working Group but will be an umbrella for child protection.
“These are different institutions altogether, and they are going to be gender focal points in all the institutions. I welcome everyone to the launch of the task force, which will is going to cover areas of child protection at the same time,” she said. “We are drawn from different institutions because we have legislators, members of the executive, civil society, international organizations, and UN agencies. This means it is a very big, and we are going to have it as part of the referral pathway, and in case anything happens within our community, and when you receive a call, you act because you are already a member of the task force.”
Meanwhile, Mikelina Igaa, the UNMISS Gender Unit focal person, said the launch was part of the Mission’s campaign to end GBV across the country.
“In 2023, the gender unit and the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare conducted a two-day forum on GBV with stakeholders to find out the trends, gaps, and challenges the latter faced in implementing GBV and SGBV programs,” she explained. “That program came out with a recommendation, and the same forum was conducted in all 10 states, where participants came with recommendations. In 2024, the National Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare conducted a national conference attended by all the participants from the states, and they came up with the recommendation to form a task force.”
“After the national conference, they developed the terms of reference, which was endorsed and then they recommended that the same taskforce should be formed in all the ten states and that is why we are here to launch the Eastern Equatoria State Gender Based Violence and Conflict Related Sexual Violence Task Force,” Igaa added.
For her part, Eastern Equatoria State Gender Minister Jennifer Nabongorika Edward, emphasized that harmful traditional practices must be ended through collective efforts if the country is to beat the target of ending GBV by 2030.
“The government and all the partners should work together to make sure that GBV comes to zero. We should all work together to make sure that early child marriage, girl child compensation, and other bad cultural practices are no longer practiced in Eastern Equatoria,” she said.
According to the officials, girl child compensation is still being done secretly among Otuho-speaking communities due to negative cultural practices. They, however, believe the task force will come up with strategies to combat the vice.