File: Human rights experts say up to 65% of women and girls in South Sudan experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

A medical doctor has raised concerns over what he calls an increasing number of rape cases across the country.

“There is a rise in cases of sexual gender-based violence. We normally receive five to seven cases every day,” said Dr. Samuel Legge Lual, the head of the Gender-Based Violence department at Juba Teaching Hospital.

This came after two girls aged 4 and 13 were hospitalized at Juba Teaching Hospital on Monday after being gang-raped.

“We have seen bad signs. The bad signs are all teenage girls who got raped are coming with pregnancies.”

According to the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and the UN Population Fund, the number of rape cases reported during the coronavirus pandemic has significantly increased.

Recently,  the government and UNFPA established a one-stop center at Juba teaching hospital after 90 rape cases were reported since the outbreak of covid19.

A toll-free national helpline number 6-2-3 was also established to support the survivors of gender-based violence in the country.

Dr. Samuel Legge urges victims of rape to report to the hospital to prevent contracting diseases and unintended pregnancies.

“If such kind of things happen to you even if you don’t want to report to the authorities, please you come to the hospital so that we prevent you from getting HIV, hepatitis, STDs, and unwanted pregnancies,” Dr. Legge said.

According to the Penal Code, 2008 whoever commits an offense of rape upon conviction shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years and may also be liable to a fine.

But perpetrators of rape and GBV largely remain unpunished.

Last year, Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut declared plans to establish special courts that would handle crimes related to gender-based violence in the country.

The plans are yet to materialize.