More than 75% of South Sudan is reportedly engulfed in murderous violence at the local level. The country has experienced some of the most brutal attacks over the past seven years, mainly in the states of Central Equatoria, Unity, Upper Nile, Warrap, Jonglei and the Greater Pibor and Rweng Administrative Areas. In some of these areas, homes have been systematically and deliberately torched, murders and forced displacements have been perpetrated, and women and girls have been abducted- they have been raped and gang-raped, sexually enslaved, and in some instances forcibly married off to their captors. Abducted boys have been forced to fight. The conflicts are driven by competition for power and territory, land and property as well as access to oil and other resources and the fight for political power, resulting in gross violations of human rights.

Response Plan: Inclusion of Women in Leadership and Peace Processes

Women inclusion in peace processes will be the focus of our intervention. Housing, Land and Property programming to support HLP concerns will be an essential component of conflict-prevention and the establishment of rule of law. Equitable access to HLP will be strengthened, encouraging the resolution of inter-communal land and resource conflicts rooted in access, ownership and usage of HLP. The realization of women’s HLP rights will be of particular focus, including access to ownership of land. HLP activities will focus on strengthening community-based dispute resolution mechanisms, promoting legal awareness-raising, and providing legal support, counseling and legal aid, particularly for women and girls. These activities are aimed at creating a conducive environment for returns and include responses to HLP issues that provide equal rights and responsibilities to men and women, mitigating the potential for returns to exacerbate tensions over scarce resources. It also establishes mechanisms to identify legal and/or community-based solutions to resolve HLP disputes.