Opening Speech By: Telar Ring Deng,

Presidential Advisor on Legal Affairs,

Office of the President of the Republic of South Sudan,

Juba.

On

Womens National Constitution Conference on the South

Sudan Constitution Development Process under the
Theme:

Our Nation, Our Constitution.

Held at Juba Grand Hotel,

Monday, May 6th, 2013

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On behalf of H.E Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South

Sudan, I am privileged and honored to speak to you the Women of South Sudan

and participate with you in this tremendous and remarkable conference on the

Permanent Constitution Making Process in the history of South Sudan.

Former US Senator, and Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton said,If a

country doesnt recognize minority rights and human rights, including womens

rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible

In general, all racial and ethnic groups in South Sudan have long-standing beliefs

concerning gender roles, and most are based on the premise that women are less

important, or less deserving of power, than men. Most African traditional social

organizations are male centered and male dominated.

South Sudan is the worlds newest nation. South Sudanese women and girls are

confronted with formidable challenges of daily life: child marriage, gender-based

violence and illiteracy. According to a study done by UNMISS, Up to 40 percent

of the populations are forced to become child brides, denying them their right to

education. The child and teenage pregnancies that follow marriage put these girls

at risk. South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

The situation is compounded by customary traditions such as dowry or bride

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price, usually in the form of cattle, the main source of income for rural

communities which perpetuates this practice and to some extent, the veil of silence.

The disturbing prevalence of gender based violence in the country affects at least

four out of every ten women with many other cases going unreported.

It is past time for women to take their rightful place, side by side with men, in the

rooms where the fates of peoples, where their children's and grandchildren's fates,

are decided.We are blessed to have you great women of South Sudan beside us the

men of this nation. Not only in this historic moment, but right from the Liberation

struggle, through the Peace Making Process in Naivasha, Kenya, where a

Comprehensive Peace Agreement was concluded signed in 2005, followed by a

Declaration of our Independence on July 09th, 2011. You stood by us through out

and we commend you for that, and will always support you in your endeavors to

reconstruct South Sudan.

On the Onset I would like to define what a constitution is; it is the fundamental

law, written or unwritten that establishes the character of a government by defining

the basic principles to which a society must conform; by describing the

organization of the government and regulation, distribution, and limitations on the

functions of different government departments; and by prescribing the extent and

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manner of the exercise of its sovereign powers. A legislative charter by which a

government or group derives its authority to act.

Many people refer to the constitution as a living document because the articles

articulated in the constitution still apply to almost every aspect of our daily life.

They determine who makes the laws, and who leads our country among many

other things. The Bill of Rights ensures that individual rights are protected. This set

of laws is what tells us that we as South Sudan Citizens have a right to freely

express ourselves, and that we have a right to privacy. The constitution also

preserves individual rights such as womens right to vote and the assurance of

equal rights regardless of gender and ethnicity.

A good constitution is one that embraces the peoples history and struggles; it also

puts into consideration the safe guarding of human rights and entrenches for

independence for the three arms of the government; the executive, judiciary and

legislature.

As you embark on your deliberations on the New Constitution and subsequently

transmit your resolutions to the National Constitutional Review Commission on

the strength of Article 202(6) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of

South Sudan 2011, as views and suggestions from the Women of South Sudan who

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are also stakeholders in the process, it is my considered advice to you that you

explore the following areas:

1. Look at the current provisions of the Constitution which pertain to issues

that affect Women and Children and see if those provisions should be

elaborated further or amended in order to response or address your

problems.For instance:

i. Article 5 (c) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South

Sudan, 2011 recognizes our customs and traditions as source of

legislation in South Sudan. Bear in your mind that not all our customs

and traditions are good. There are those which are inconsistent with

the Constitution, principles of natural justice and good conscious. The

Article has not disqualified such bad customs or practices, therefore,

leaving a gap for misinterpretation, misapplication and thus,

miscarriage of justice. In some jurisdictions, a sub-clause which reads,

any other law, customs, traditions and practices that are inconsistent

with the provisions of this Constitution, principles of natural justice

and good conscious shall be null or void.

ii. Under Billof Rights, Article 15 of the Transitional Constitution of the

Republic of South Sudan, 2011 gives persons the right to marry a

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 person of the opposite sex, but is silent about the age of marriage

which is a risk especially to the girl child.

2. Article 16(4) (a) of the Constitution on Affirmative Action. This should not

be limited to women in public life, leadership and politics. The spirit of this

provision should also be translated to transform the girl child education and

the livelihood of ordinary women in the village so that no imbalances are

created between the women.You should also have a look at the pros and

cons of affirmative action.

In South Sudan, Affirmative action is appropriate at the moment

considering the fact that girl child education was not encouraged and other

cultural practices that left women behind but in the long run it has to be

discouraged because it does not make women innovative and competitive

but makes it demeaning to the women because they tend to say they need

affirmative action to succeed.

3. Women leaders are appointed by men instead of the women organizations.

This is another way of male domination. Its quite controversial but has to

be addressed.

4. We should also have a look at our neighboring countries, a very good

example is Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta, recently nominated his

cabinet secretaries, out of the seventeen, and six are women. If we try and

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 compare the number of cabinet secretaries to the number of the women

ministers in South Sudan. There are only five female ministers and nine

deputy ministers. The participation of women in political and public affairs

of South Sudan is a fairly recent phenomenon. This is due to the fact that

that, women involvement in politics was and is not seen as a womans

prerogative.

Recent studies as well as my experience working and living in South Sudan

reveal that women and men occupy different and unequal positions and

power relations both within family and the society at large.

The major breakthrough for the women of South Sudan came the signing of

the CPA which stipulated a 25 percent for womens representation in all

level of government in recognition of their roles and contribution to the

liberation struggle. The interim period witnessed an increase in the number

of women in decision- making positions of the former government of

Southern Sudan. Currently there are more than 95 female MPs in the

recently reconstituted National Legislative Assembly.

5. Explore the bill of rights and other provisions of the constitution that relates

to election of women, citizenship and seek guidance from applicable

Human Rights Conventions in order to help you further elaborate on this.

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6. Seek guidance from Conventions such as Convention on the Elimination of

all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on

the Rights of the Child, including experiences of other countries like

Kenya, Uganda etc. On this note, I have been informed that the Women of

South Sudan in collaboration with the Ministries of Gender, Justice, the UN

Women, UNMISS and other stakeholders have embarked on the process of

having CEDAW ratified in South Sudan. It is therefore, imperative that you

incorporate some of the relevant provisions of CEDAW into the upcoming

permanent Constitution.

7. The gendered division on labor, which puts a heavy burden on womens

shoulders further contributes to the marginalization of women in politics

and public life. Dr. John Garang was the first South Sudanese leader to

acknowledge how gendered division of labor places more burden on

womens lives. In his speech during the CPA signing in 2005, he said

women in Sudan as elsewhere in the world are marginalized of the

marginalized whose suffering goes beyond description. The Sudanese rural

woman, for example gets up at Five Oclock in the morning to walk five

kilometers, just to bring five gallons of water after five hours walk, spends

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 another five hours working on the family farm , and five more hours

making the family meal.

Your Vision as Women of South Sudan (Women of Greater Bahr El Ghazal or

Greater Equatoria or Greater Upper Nile) should be beyond this Constitutional

making process. Remember that after the Constitution is promulgated, we have a

task of translating the spirit of the Constitution into laws or Acts of Parliament. So

it isboth our role as men of this country and your role as women of South Sudan to

identify gaps in our current laws that have not addressed your problems as women

and children, including men and henceforth, embark on Law Revision, Review and

Reform in collaboration with the responsible institutions. For example; we do not

have laws which regulate our family or domestic affairs, such as the Marriage Act,

the Succession Act, Family law and so on, yet these are areas that affect women

and Children more than men or the boy child in as far as our different customs,

traditions and practices are concerned.

Lastly, I once again thank all of you and wish you all the best in your deliberations

throughout the Conference; we shall stand by you and support you in all your

endeavors to address issues that affect you as well as reconstruction of this new

nation. The President is also more than willing to receive your

recommendations/resolutions.

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With this few remarks, and on behalf of H.E Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President

of the Republic of South Sudan, I declare this Conference OPENED!!!

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