In his opening remarks, Emmanuel Ira, from PAX South Sudan, stressed the importance of the Family Bill in dismantling traditional barriers that hinder equality within marriage. ‘We need to evolve; we cannot be left behind,’ Ira said, referring to the deep-rooted traditional norms that still have a major impact on South Sudanese society.
The conference is part of The Leaders of Peace programme, which aims to build a gender-equal and inclusive society. In this, we collaborate with Plan International, HealthNet TPO and local South Sudanese NGOs such as EVE and AMA. The programme focuses on the protection of girls and women, including protection from gender-based violence, improving services and care for victims, and promoting better laws and regulations and their implementation.
Programme objectives
‘Aspects such as child custody, maintenance, guardianship, property and inheritance rights, as well as gender-based violence in the family context, are crucial issues that we need to address,’ said Vicky Apio, project leader at PAX. The partnership is working on a platform for women parliamentarians to critically assess existing family legislation, identify legal and policy shortcomings that impede gender equality in family matters, and harmonise customary and statutory laws in line with international human rights norms.
Future perspectives
The programme resulted in a set of recommendations that will be presented to the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Affairs for further consideration before the draft Family Bill is submitted to Parliament. We are not there yet, but this step is an important success in achieving greater gender equality.
