About 30 stakeholders from the Warrap State Ministry of Social Welfare, police service, prisons department, and prosecutors participated in a four-day training on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Kuajok last week.
The training which ended on Friday was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and was aimed at equipping participants with knowledge of how to deal with GBV cases.
Abuk Mario Maluth, a social worker in Kuajok after attending the training said women and girls bear the brunt of domestic violence in South Sudan.
"I appreciate those who taught us and I want you to take this message early marriages of our girls affect them differently, the education is compromised and psychologically affected to the extent they (girls) can't stand in front of people to express themselves," she said.
A special protection unit police investigator Sergeant Major Mario Marial Mabior said what they have learned will help facilitate their work.
"All that have learned here are important, how we to receive complaints from complainers, how police can visit the crime scene, and how to investigate cases of rape and GBV," he added. "I want to appeal to those who have trained us to continue giving us knowledge and I urge my colleagues too to go and implement it to our places of work."
Vitalis Chacha, from the UN Police, said Warrap state needs to increase the number of female investigators to help women address their cases.
"Our observation is that we need female police officers to be investigators and that remains to be discussed with the police commissioner and if the situation presents itself, we will be very happy. The interaction is worthy and the little knowledge you have acquired in the training will change your country," he said.
George Kadima, UNDP Security Specialist urges participants to put into practice the new skills in their different institutions.
"We expect you to put the little knowledge you got from the training into practice. We know this is not the new thing but it's good to remind ourselves with what we have been doing so, take it and impart it to your colleagues who didn't get the opportunity to attend the training," Kadima said. "UNDP is committed to working with the government to capacitate the institutions through training so do your part and we will do our part as well."
Major Gen. John Bak, Warrap State Commissioner of Police urged the police investigators to cooperate with suspects as they can provide vital information regarding a crime, saying they remain innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
He also acknowledged that the police department needs more female investigators who would deal with GBV cases saying women are comfortable speaking to fellow women when reporting such cases.