More than 200 people have participated in a one-day workshop aimed at promoting the rights of women and children in Aweil State.

The workshop which took place on Tuesday was attended by community members, civil society representatives, and government officials.

Albino Akol Akol, an official from Help Restore Youth Organization, said the training aims at building the capacity of traditional authorities and civil society leaders to promote women's and children’s rights.

“We have been training them on the rights of women and the rights of children within the context of the law. The outcome of this is that we want people to be aware of their rights and the procedures for following up their cases in a court of law,” he said.

Garang Akok Ngor, an independent advocate who attended the workshop said women and children’s rights must be upheld. He added that awareness campaigns should also be intensified.

“We spoke a lot on women's rights because the women of northern Bahr el Ghazal have been marginalized for too long. The training is for them to know their rights and the laws that are attached to their rights,” he asserted.

For her part, Atong Deng, a woman representative at the workshop urged the communities to consider the rights of both women and children.

She said the women have been affected mostly by customary laws that exclude them in the key decision-making process.

“We have too many challenges concerning the rights of women in South Sudan because customary laws do not allow women to participate in some issues especially in marriage processes,” she added.

The workshop conducted by Help Restore Youth (HeRY), a national civil society organization was supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It tackled topics such as gender-based violence, forced and earlier marriages and rights to own property among others.