NAIROBI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The South Sudan government has put mechanisms in place to advance the rights of women and engage them fully in the country's ongoing reconstruction, an official said late Wednesday during a forum in Nairobi.
Awut Deng Acuil, minister for gender, child and social welfare of the Republic of South Sudan, said that promoting gender equality has been endorsed by the highest echelons of the country's leadership to speed up stability, cohesion and inclusive growth.
"From the onset when our government was formed, there was a mechanism that was established to specifically look at promotion of the rights of women and their participation at all levels of leadership," said Awut.
"Our constitution is very elaborate on the participation of women at all levels of government," she added.
Awut made the remarks during an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of a forum to discuss participation of women in the promotion of peace and security in African Great Lakes region held in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Awut said that South Sudan has drawn lessons from its past experience with civil turmoil to establish policy, legal and institutional frameworks aimed at ensuring women are an integral part of peace-building.
"We have ratified regional instruments and international conventions on promoting women rights and their participation in the peace process," said Awut.
She said that women have actively participated in grassroots-based initiatives aimed at restoring durable peace, stability and cohesion in the country that is in the middle of reconstruction after more than five years of civil strife.
The minister said that South Sudan has made concerted efforts to eradicate gender-based violence and child marriages that are to blame for gross violation of the rights of women and girls.
"We have launched a road map and national action plan to fight against child marriages in South Sudan and our president has appointed national champions to campaign against the vice in all parts of the country," said Awut.
She revealed that development of policy and legal instruments to strengthen the fight against gender-based violence is on course while one-stop centers have been established in Juba, Wau and Rumbek to cater for medical and psycho-social needs of violence victims.
Awut said that awareness creation targeting critical institutions like the judiciary and disciplined forces has gone over-drive to ensure their programs are gender-sensitive.
