Provisions in South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution greatly improved the legal position of women and girls in the country, UNMISS Human Rights Officer Anthony Nwapa said in Juba today.

Mr. Nwapa was speaking at a workshop on protection of women, organized by UNMISS as part of an ongoing nation-wide campaign to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence.

“Your constitution is more progressive than that of most countries, but you have to claim your rights if you want to have them,” said Mr. Nwapa. “Nobody is going to do it for you.”

Some 40 participants, who included police officers, public prosecutors and women rights workers, agreed that it was vital to change negative aspects of cultural practices and retain positive ones.

Responding to a statement that some women couldn’t believe their husbands loved them if they didn’t beat them, an official with the South Sudan National Police Service said this was not necessarily true anymore.

“That used to be the case in the past, but now things are changing, especially in the city,” said David Tang, a public prosecution attorney with the police department in Munuki locality, Central Equatoria State.

“What is good in a culture should remain the same, but what is bad like the oppression of women must be changed,” Mr. Tang added.

Participants gave examples of some negative cultural practices, like denying women the right to inherit a deceased husband’s property, inheriting of wives by kinsmen when their husbands died and denying girls the opportunity to access education.

Stressing that “human beings are not property”, Mr. Nwapa noted that South Sudan’s transitional constitution provided women with ample opportunity to improve their legal position in these cases.

Simon Lumori, an official with the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, emphasized the importance of women's rights to communities and societies as a whole.

“It is about respecting the rights of your fellow human beings,’’ he said. “Human rights will bring peace and peace will bring development.’’

Faida Grace, a participant from the Central Equatoria State Women's Union, said she was ready to claim her rights.

“Men don’t give strong women the chance to take up leadership (and) that has to change,” she said.

Ms. Grace said there was a ray of light despite the challenges, noting that she had witnessed a steady decrease in the number of gender-based violence cases reported in Juba.

“We raise awareness in communities and at schools and we see public opinion slowly changing,” she said.