WOMEN AND GIRLS’ ACCESS TO JUSTICE

Women and girls in South Sudan face severe systemic barriers to justice driven by conflicting statutory and customary laws, pervasive gender-based violence, and profound socio-economic marginalization, which leave survivors vulnerable to impunity, stigmatization, and institutional neglect. Access to justice for women and girls is essential to gender equality, human rights, and sustainable development, and to peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. Yet, at a time of shrinking development aid and competing global priorities, the justice sector – particularly justice for women and girls – remains under-resourced and deprioritized. Without access to justice, women and girls are often unable to own or inherit property, access credit or financial services, secure decent work, or seek protection from violence and discrimination. These barriers exclude women from economic and social life and limit the impact of broader development efforts.

Our key strategies for improving access to justice for women and girls include advocate for the consolidation and implementation of comprehensive gender justice laws, such as the Anti-GBV and domestic violence bills, to clearly criminalize marital rape, harmful traditional practices, and establish a uniform minimum age of marriage, legal protection of women’s rights to own, use, and inherit land and property while advocating for nullifying customary practices that dispossess widows and divorced women. , train justice sector actors, including judges, police officers, and traditional leaders, on trauma-informed care, human rights law, and gender-responsive legal processes, provide legal aid services to women, girls, and vulnerable groups who lack the financial resources to navigate complex judicial systems, engage traditional and religious leaders through dialogue and sensitization to foster positive social norms that recognize women’s bodily autonomy and leadership potential, implement grassroots awareness campaigns to educate women and girls about their legal rights and how to navigate existing justice pathways, and engage men and boys in advocacy programs to address patriarchal structures, promote shared decision-making, and reduce the stigma faced by survivors of violence.