15 March 2015 - To increase human rights awareness among local communities, UNMISS recently conducted a five-day workshop in Lobonok, a locality in Juba County, Central Equatoria State.

The forum, which drew 223 participants from the local people and community based organizations, focused on basic human rights, mob justice, customary law compared to statutory law and the bill of rights in South Sudan’s transitional constitution.

Discussions during the forum showed the importance of holding such a workshop as participants admitted that they had been violating the rights of others among their communities.

“These days our wives drink too much alcohol. Sometimes, they leave the house early in the morning and return home as the sun sets,” said one participant, Augustino Jada Ladu. “Such a woman deserves to be beaten to correct her.”

Arguing that women are part of society and they should be treated equally as men but need to be punished if they behaved, Mr. Ladu noted that norms and cultures are difficult to change and to achieve this would require more time.

Another participant Klorinda Wasuk said that girls are always vulnerable and victims of society's attitudes. She gave an example of situations when parents force their daughters to drop out of school because of poor performance.

“Instead of encouraging the girls to perform better, they remove them from school,” said Ms. Wasuk.

The Lobonok Community had a very negative towards girls’ education, said another participant Jackeline Pita, adding that girls are kept as assets and are forced to marry instead of going to school.

“We don’t go to school due to fear of being punished,” said Ms. Pita. “They say if we go to school we will become prostitutes.”

Kulang Charles, a teacher at Morsak Primary School, said sometimes children’s rights were violated because of existing conditions. He gave an example of the school he heads, which has six classrooms with 84 pupils, including 34 girls.

“The school has no roofs, no windows (and) no doors (so) when it rains, classes cannot continue,” he said. “This school … was constructed by the community and has only one teacher and a volunteer.”

Mr. Charles appealed to the state government to provide more teachers.

Other participants said that their fundamental rights were being violated due to lack of water, health facilities, schools, and good roads.

Robert Taban Peter, the Secretary General of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission for Central Equatoria State, pledged to forward the community’s concerns to the commission.

“I will write a report to the commission about the lack of schools and teachers,” he said. “This will be followed up.”
Participants also acknowledged that protecting human rights remained a challenge as the community takes the law into its hands in cases like mob justice.

The Director of Lobonok Payam, Franco Lumori, confirmed that the house of a suspect was burnt down after being accused of allegedly being involved in a killing.