The government of South Sudan is called upon to stop child marriages
The government of South Sudan should increase efforts to protect girls from child marriage, Human Rights Watch argued in a new report released last week, on the eve of International Women’s Day. According to government statistics, 48 per cent of South Sudanese girls between 15 and 19 are already married, with some being as young as 12 at the time of marriage.
Exacerbating the already wide gender gaps in school enrolment, child marriages in South Sudan also contribute to increased maternal mortality rates and violate girl’s rights to be free from violence and decide when they wish to get married.
“Girls who have the courage to refuse early marriages are in dire need of protection, support, and education”, said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The South Sudan government must make sure that there is a coordinated government response to cases of child marriage and more training for police and prosecutors on the right of girls to protection”, she added.
Entitled “’This Old Man Can Feed Us, You Will Marry Him:’ Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan”, the report examines the consequences of child marriage, the lack of protection for victims who try to resist marriage or leave abusive marriages, and the many obstacles they face in accessing mechanisms of redress.
Additionally, it recommends that the government sets 18 as the minimum age for marriage and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (CRC), as well as pass comprehensive legislation on marriage, separation, and divorce.
A 2012 report by UNICEF shows that around one in three women worldwide aged 20-24 years were married before they reached 18 years of age, and around 11 per cent entered into marriage before 15 years of age.
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