Survival to leadership: South Sudan’s youth on the frontline rise up as architects of peace

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00:00Moving on now, Saturday, October the 11th, marks International Day of the Girl Child,

00:03aimed, of course, at celebrating girls' voices, actions, and leadership worldwide.

00:08This year's theme is The Girl I Am, The Change I Lead, Girls on the Front Lines of Crisis.

00:14It highlights, then, the contributions that girls have made to confronting some of the

00:17world's biggest crises, including armed conflicts.

00:20So for the occasion, I have the pleasure of welcoming both Oyela and Agnes Onset.

00:24They are activists from South Sudan.

00:26Thank you so much to both of you for joining us today on France 24.

00:31Are you able to speak to the way that the war in South Sudan has affected, impacted women

00:36and girls in particular?

00:43Thank you very much, Moderator, for giving me this privilege to talk about the consequences

00:49and the effects of the conflict on the life of girls and women in South Sudan.

00:55The conflict has really affected the girls in many different ways.

01:01As the conflict has left many girls to drop out of school, approximately 52% of the girls

01:09are out of school and others were due to the early marriages as a strategy of coping.

01:17And others could not afford paying their school fees anymore to go to school as they have lost

01:24their parents in the conflict.

01:27And Agnes, what about you?

01:28Or is there anything, any other major impacts that you've seen on women and girls in this

01:33years-long conflict?

01:35Yeah.

01:36Thank you very much.

01:37I think the conflict affected women and girls too much because when there's conflict, almost

01:45always women are the victims.

01:48So some women became the victims of sexual harassment for gender-based violence.

01:54And even it affected some girls to become victims of rape.

02:00And also education for girls has become a problem.

02:04They cannot go to school.

02:05It's not only for girls, but also for boys.

02:08It affected the education and their life.

02:11You both have worked to defend the rights of women and girls in South Sudan, of course,

02:17specifically.

02:18I'll start with you, Ayala.

02:19What have some of the main priorities of your work been?

02:22The major priorities of our work is educating the girls and the parents on the consequences

02:30of early-enforced marriages in the communities, and also encouraging them to report any cases

02:38of sexual violences that they might have encountered in the period of the conflict so as they can

02:46get our psychosocial support.

02:48And Agnes?

02:49Yeah, I think we educate girls in many ways for protection.

02:56They have to protect themselves.

02:58And then we raise their awareness.

03:01And then we do counseling for them, those who are affected by violence.

03:05And then we also provide skills for those who have dropped up early from school.

03:10Now, one of the first major foreign policy moves that we saw from the Trump administration

03:15in the United States was, of course, to scrap foreign funding.

03:19USAID cut the vast majority of its budget.

03:22Now, this, in my understanding, actually got some mixed reactions from South Sudan, some

03:27rather surprisingly arguing that it would maybe help the country become more self-sufficient,

03:32others, notably humanitarian workers on the ground themselves, saying that this situation,

03:37this would bring a catastrophe in South Sudan, a country that has been quite dependent on

03:43U.S. aid.

03:45How have you seen these aid cuts affect some of the work that you guys have both been doing?

03:50Okay, the cutoff of funding has affected so many, as most of the children, others in

03:59the camp, were managing to go to school due to the help that the organization was supporting

04:05with them.

04:06And, like, I'm sure if France, Plan International France would also be supported, that would

04:12also be good for them to continue providing, like, scholastic materials in school, because

04:17that was supporting many children to go to school.

04:19But then the cutoff of funding in that area has left a very big gap, and it has left very

04:26many children to lack access of going to school, because it's hard to get scholastic materials

04:32themselves.

04:33And even the cutoff funding has resulted also to a very big gap when it comes to food security,

04:41because most of the displaced citizens were depending on the food support.

04:47And it has left most of the citizens malnourished.

04:54A final question for you, and I'll start with you at this time, Agnes.

04:58What are—as we look towards the International Day of the Girl tomorrow, Saturday, October 11th,

05:05how would you like to see the international community address the impact that this conflict

05:10has had on women and girls in South Sudan specifically?

05:12I'm appealing to the international community to provide support. Fund a project in South Sudan

05:21through Plan France, maybe so that we support the girls to go back to school. And then also

05:29those who have drive up from school, we support them through different skills training. And then

05:34and then they can stand by themselves.

05:37So our main goal is funding from plan.

05:41Oyela, anything to add in terms of expectations

05:44for how the international community can better help women and girls in South Sudan?

05:48Okay, my only recommendation is that the international community at the moment

05:52should not withdraw from supporting South Sudan.

05:55South Sudan really needs their help,

05:57and the future of the girls lies in their hands,

06:01so their withdrawal creates a very big gap in the girls achieving their dreams.

06:06Oyela and Agnes, thank you so very much, both of you,

06:09South Sudanese activists, defenders of the rights of women and girls.

06:12Thank you so much for coming on France 24 today.

06:17Well, that sums up this edition.

06:18Thank you very much for joining us here on France 24.

06:20Stay tuned.

06:21There's more news coming in under three minutes here on Around the World.

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