Lack of resources in the areas hosting large numbers of returnees has a disproportionate impact on women because of women’s traditional role as caregivers for their families. Yet the potential of women to contribute significantly to the reintegration of returnees and to the recovery of their home areas is not being harnessed. There are many currently under-resourced women’s groups which could enhance the reintegration and recovery process. But they need access to adult literacy and civic education, to small business and vocational training and to micro-credit. The Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and the international community should provide support to local women’s groups to enable their participation in reintegration and recovery.
- It is women who have to stand in line at boreholes to collect water for their families. Conflicts at water-points are common -- because women from host communities are frustrated by large numbers of returnees placing a burden on limited water resources, they frequently target returnee women. In many communities in southern Sudan it is women who play the main role in agriculture, and the lack of adequate and timely provision of seeds and tools affects the lives of these women and their families. Reintegration processes often focus on reducing potential conflicts between men in the returnee and host communities, ignoring the women.
- During the transitional period in the lead-up to the anticipated referendum in 2011 the advancement of women’s rights should be a policy priority for the GoSS. It has been estimated that 65% of the population of southern Sudan is female. The dangers of continually postponing decisions on issues that particularly affect women must be avoided.
- The women who are taking up their government posts in the capital of south Sudan are potential role models, and they need to have more contact with local-level women’s organizations. The GoSS should build on the landmark rights for women set out in the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan. The 25% minimum quota for women’s representation has great potential for advancing women’s rights, and some progress has been made in women’s participation at the central government level, but this has not yet reached the local level.
- The international community should increase the resources available to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to enhance its protection capacity. The current inadequate protection capacity of UNHCR in south Sudan particularly affects women, as it reduces its ability to address gender-based violence issues, and its ability to ensure that accurate information about their home areas reaches potential returnees so that they can make informed decisions about return. Men currently have much more freedom of movement than women in southern Sudan, and therefore more ability to obtain such information themselves.
- GoSS and the international community should prioritize the engagement of traditional leaders in discussions about, and ultimately respect of, the provisions of the Interim Constitution relating to the rights of women. Very few women currently get access to justice in southern Sudan. Even when women could access the court system, the costs involved are prohibitive. GoSS is passing new laws for southern Sudan, but many issues which particularly affect women, such as land law reform, are still pending. In the absence of statutory laws, customary laws are applied by traditional leaders, a situation which does not favor women’s land rights. Women’s right to own property, which is enshrined in the Interim Constitution, is frequently ignored by traditional leaders who are deciding disputes.
