Juba,
July 7 2009: A delegation representing
the Committee on Gender, Social
Welfare, Youth and Sports in the
Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly
(SSLA) participated in a study tour
to Egypt from 20 – 26 June.
The aim of the visit was to enable
the members of the Committee to
examine gender laws in Egypt and
draw lessons from the Egyptian experience
in gender equality and mainstreaming
in all aspects of life.
The visit to Egypt was the last
stop in a series of similar tours
to South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya,
Uganda and Ghana. The overarching
objective of the tours was to enable
the nascent Government of Southern
Sudan to learn from the experiences
of these countries and to help it
formulate gender polices for the
South.
“For us to do this we thought
of learning from other nations that
have gone ahead of us in this field,”
explained Honorable Philip Koto,
member of the Assembly’s Committee
on Gender, Social Welfare, Youth
and Sports. He said, “The
Committee has finalized preparatory
steps to present an act to the Assembly
in a step to establish the Southern
Sudan Coordinating Committee on
Gender Equality and Development.”
The
tours have been organized by the
SSLA with support from UNDP, in
a collaborative endeavor to promote
the attainment of gender equality
at all levels of political participation
and decision-making.
Gender equality is lacking in Southern
Sudan due to the protracted civil
war that ended in 2005 with the
signing of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA). Cultural norms
also impinge on gender equity in
the South leaving women in a desperate
state of inequality compared to
their male counterparts.
“Despite
the political dividends offered
by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,
our women are still lagging behind,”
said member of the delegation, Honorable
Debora Ajok. She said, “We
still experience gender imbalances
in the way women are treated in
Southern Sudan; more girls are denied
access to education in order to
baby-sit their younger siblings,
help in domestic work, and at the
age of twelve or thirteen are given
out in marriage and become child
mothers. This stereotype cultural
mind set must be changed through
well researched gender policies
and laws.”
The Committee has already produced
a draft bill on Gender Policies
for the South and intends to submit
it to the Assembly for discussion
and enactment before the end of
the year. “Along with UNDP’s
parliamentary capacity-building
assistance, the Association of European
Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA)
has also assigned a lawyer to help
with drafting the Gender Act for
the South,” said Honorable
Philip, adding that “we have
a thirteen-page document with thirty-one
articles already at hand awaiting
final touches and submission to
the Assembly.”
UNDP has been working closely with
the Government of Southern Sudan
in building the capacity of the
SSLA and the Assemblies in the ten
southern states, particularly the
Committee on Gender, Social Welfare,
Youth and Sports.