Hawa Adam, a women rights activist in Yei River County of Central Equatoria State, is calling for more women representation and participation in the security sector and governance reform in South Sudan.

This came during a one-day roundtable discussion organized by UNMISS in Yei town last week with overall objectives to enhance the engagement and voice of women to actively participate in conflict resolution, mediation and governance and advocate for use of gender-sensitive approaches in the implementation of the peace agreement.

Hawa said the exclusion of women from participation in the governance process in the country has resulted in poor governance characterized by continuous insecurity, corruption, absence of peace and underdevelopment.

She called on women in the international and national women arena, fellow women in the political parties, NGOs and the private sector to wake up, use their influence and voice the need for more women participation for the sake of peace, security and stability at all levels of governance in South Sudan.

“Women are struggling and we are also saying chances are not given to us women. Who is to demand for our rights? Let us fight for our rights to work side by side with men in the military, police, driving, ministers and ambassadors and let us remove the factor of fear. We must participate in the security, political and peaceful governance of this country,” Hawa said.

She called on all women, regardless of their social, economic and political differences to unite under one umbrella and work towards addressing issues affecting women participation in security sector reform and governance.

“Lets us come together as a family and remove the heart of hatred so that we can address the issues affecting women in this country. Many times, women are described as people who cannot do what men do and I want to tell you, my fellow women, we can do something better than what a man can do,” she added.

For his part, James Mugo, the head of UNMISS civil affairs in Yei, reiterated the UN’s commitment to supporting women participation in peace, security and governance at the local level in the southern part of Central Equatoria State.

“As you all know, UNMISS has a responsibility to integrate UN-Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security agenda in our work and this includes supporting women participation in mediation, conflict resolution and governance,” Mugo said. “Part of what we are working on with the county commissioners is setting up Boma peace and reconciliation committees and women issues are given priority at the Boma level to actively participate in advocacy on the revitalized peace agreement and governance programs particularly in Yei River County”  

Yoana Benson, the acting Yei River County commissioner, expressed the need for women inclusion and participation in the security and governance sectors starting from the local to the national level.

“We have discovered the potential of women in rebuilding our country and reshaping the broken hearts by empowering women to raise up against gender bias and inequality that hinders socio-economic and political progress of women and we shall engage women participation in both public and private sectors. It is time to place women at the centre stage of peacebuilding and we must move together with women to address challenges on insecurity, economic instability and for sustainable peace and development,” Benson said.