Rape cases occurring in South Sudan’s Torit State are backed by traditions and not reported in courts, a public prosecutor said.
Speaking at a rule of law forum held on Wednesday last week, Abraham Awan said no rape case appears in court and police records, accusing local leaders of encouraging harmful practices.
“There is a problem affecting us, the first is that I am holding the list of prison and those in custody. When you go through, you will not find a case written on rape, be it from young or old people is not there. We are just listening here that there is rape,” said Awan.
“The problem affecting us here is the chiefs. The chiefs solve such cases in accordance to the culture,” he added.
The lawyer expressed fears that culture contradicts the law and urged communities to report rape cases.
“This issue must go back to our relatives. If such crimes happen, there should be no fear because if you fear us, to whom will you talk to? We are coming to defend you. When you talk to organizations, they will delay. We want to tell our chiefs incase this happens, do not accept, but tell them to go to police,” stressed Awan.
He added, “Our offices are open 24 hours, in hospitals, we are there, in police, we work till 5pm and even on phone, we will you reach”.
Awan said nothing is usually revealed when you try to investigate cases of violence against women, which were raised at the forum.
The one-day forum was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at Torit Business Center.