"This Old Man Can Feed Us, You Will Marry Him"
March 7, 2013

VII. Recommendations

To the President of South Sudan

  • Declare zero tolerance for child marriage, and publicly and forcefully condemn acts of violence against girls and women who resist child marriages.
  • Publicly support a national action plan to end child marriage.
  • Publicly support efforts to address the issue of dowry and its negative impact on the rights of girls and women in South Sudan.
  • Call for initiatives to encourage ethnic communities to regulate dowry through consultation with all stakeholders, including women and girls.
  • Call on the national legislature to decriminalize all consensual adult sex.

To The Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare

On a National Action Plan to End Child Marriage

  • Develop and implement a national action plan to prevent and end child marriage in accordance with international good practices. Ensure there is broad public participation in the development of the plan by relevant government ministries and bodies, including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health, Ministry of General Education and Instruction, and the Judiciary. The South Sudan Human Rights Commission, legislative bodies, NGOs, and UN and donor agencies should also participate in the development of the action plan.
  • Work with the National Legislative Assembly to ensure that appropriate funding is allocated in the annual national budget to implement the national action plan to end child marriage once it is developed.

On Improving Coordination, Investigation, and Response to Child Marriage Cases

  • Develop and implement guidelines on how national and state level government ministries should address child marriage cases. The guidelines should include the following information:
    • Relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies and their responsibilities;
    • Officials responsible for handling cases;
    • Available remedies;
    • Referral procedures within government structures.

Relevant government ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the judiciary, and the SSHRC and NGOs should also participate in developing these guidelines.

  • Develop simple procedures (in the form of a poster or similar communication tools), and establish mechanisms (such as help lines) for girls, families, or concerned individuals to report child marriage cases and seek help. The guidelines should explain the reporting procedures, authorities responsible for handling the cases, available remedies and protection measures, and appeal procedures. Inform the public about these guidelines.
  • Issue regulations on the Child Act, specifying the mandate of each government ministry or agency particularly regarding the protection of children from child marriage.
  • Conduct training for relevant government officials about the legal rights of girls under the Child Act, particularly their right to be protected from child marriage.

On Protection of Girls Seeking Help from Forced Marriage and Domestic Violence

  • Support and advocate for establishing safe spaces, such as shelters, for girls threatened by early and forced marriages or other forms of domestic violence. Once established, work with the Ministries of Justice and Interior to ensure that these shelters are protected from attacks by families and spouses, and support outreach programs that advise women and girls about the existence of shelters, and how they can be accessed.
  • Develop and implement measures to protect girls who seek help from forced marriages, including those who bring charges against their families for forced marriage. Do this together with relevant government ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, and the judiciary. NGOs should also participate. Create public awareness about the availability of these protection measures.

On Increasing Awareness about Child Marriage in Communities

  • Carry out a nationwide awareness-raising campaign to inform the public about child marriage. Involve girls and women, relevant government ministries, traditional and religious leaders, and NGOs in the campaign. Include information on:
    • Harms that the practice causes and the benefits of delayed marriage and childbearing;
    • Information about protection measures, legal remedies, medical and psycho-social care available to girls and women, and consequences for perpetrators;
    • Encourage girls and the public to report child marriage cases.

To The Ministry of Justice

Work toward comprehensive reform of South Sudan’s laws on marriage, separation, divorce, and related matters, in collaboration with relevant government ministries and agencies, the National Legislative Assembly, experts, and NGOs and civil society groups working on women’s rights. In particular:

On Lack of Comprehensive Family Legislation

  • Enact legislation that:
    • Clearly sets the minimum age for marriage at 18 years of age for both spouses;
    • Clearly establishes the requirement for full and free consent of both partners to a marriage;
    • Prohibits  forced marriage and related harmful practices including bride kidnapping, girl-child compensation, marriage as dispute settlement or debt payment, polygamy, and wife inheritance;
    • Sets clear penalties and punishment for acts of violence against girls and women carried out as intimidation or retribution for refusal to marry; and provides for adequate legal, medical, and psycho-social services to victims of these attacks;
    • Grants the same legal status to parties in customary marriages as those in civil marriages;
    • Sets clear criteria for child custody and maintenance, and fully affirms women’s rights to child custody upon separation and divorce;
    • Grants women and men equal rights to apply for divorce and to a fair determination;
    • Fully affirms the concept of marital property and allows for its division on an equal basis between spouses at the time of dissolution of marriage, recognizing financial and non-financial contributions made by women;
    • Ensures that girls and women who are forcibly married shall have the right to press criminal charges, seek a divorce, and seek alimony;
    • Sets clear penalties for anyone who intentionally forces an adult or a child to enter into a marriage;
    • Ensures that girls married prior to the enactment of the new legislation have the option of terminating their marriage, and protects their rights to property, child custody, and maintenance.
    • Ensures that children born to mothers under 18 shall have the same rights as children born in a legally recognized marriage;
    • Makes marriage registration compulsory.
  • Once the new family law is in place, together with the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, conduct public education campaigns about the provisions of the law, aiming at raising awareness in both urban and rural areas.

On Addressing Gaps in Current Laws Governing Marriage and Related Matters

  • Revise the Penal Code so that: individuals are not imprisoned for adultery; and so that it recognizes marital rape as a criminal offense, clearly stating that no marriage or other relationship shall constitute a defense to a charge of sexual assault under the legislation. Clearly define the practice of “elopement”—considered a crime in customary courts— to ensure criminalization when it involves non-consent or force, and decriminalization when it involves the consent of both parties.  
  • Together with the Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, inform girls and women about their rights to seek child maintenance from fathers of their children as per the Child Act.

On Strengthening South Sudan’s Human Rights Framework to Protect Women

  • Together with the relevant government ministries and the National Legislative Assembly, take the necessary steps to ensure the prompt ratification, without reservations, of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol; the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol); the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC); and the Convention on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (CRC). Use these treaties as guidance in drafting the new constitution and other laws to promote women’s rights.

To the Judiciary

  • Issue judicial circulars that:
    • Instruct both statutory and customary judges that proceedings on child marriage adopt the definition of a child as anyone under the age of 18 as per the provisions of the 2008 Child Act;
    • More broadly define, and clarify, how provisions on the “best interests of the child” as per the Child Act should be applied in practice; and clearly stipulate that the “best interests of the child” be the guiding principles in all judicial and customary court proceedings on child marriages;
    • Clarify the provision in the Civil Procedure Act that customs governing family issues that are “contrary to justice, equity or good conscience” should not be applied.
  • Raise awareness amongst judicial and customary court officials of these provisions.

To the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Interior

  • Improve training for lawyers, public prosecutors, judges, and the police on gender-based violence, including child marriages. Include information on forms of gender based violence, contributing factors and risks, legal protections under South Sudanese and applicable international law, and consequences for perpetrators.
  • Provide regular and up-to-date trainings to law enforcement officers on the requirements of the family law once it is enacted.
  • Ensure that judges, traditional authorities, and other relevant authorities report cases of child marriages.
  • The Ministry of Interior should consider increasing the number of officers belonging to the Special Protection Units (SPUs) at police stations, with particular attention to increasing the number of female officers, as well as expanding the coverage of the SPUs to all police stations in South Sudan.

To the Ministry of General Education and Instruction

On Improving Girls’ Access to Formal and Non-formal Education

  • Together with the Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, continue efforts to raise public awareness on the importance of education for girls.
  • Develop retention strategies to ensure that girls who enroll in school are able to remain in school, such as incentives for families to keep girls in school and to subsidize the costs of uniforms and textbooks.
  • Expand efforts to provide continuing formal education and vocational training opportunities for married girls and women. In particular, expand access to alternative education programs in all states, and inform the public about their existence.
  • Together with the Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, develop and implement child care support programs to enable girls who have children to attend school.
  • Improve data collection on the number of girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy or to get married.

On School-Based Human Rights Education, including Comprehensive Sexuality Education

  • Integrate human rights education focusing on children’s rights into the school curriculum and include child marriage among topics discussed. Ensure that teachers are trained in its contents and allocate time to teach it.
  • Make comprehensive sexuality education part of the school curriculum, and ensure that teachers are trained in its contents and allocate time to teach it. Work with the Ministry of Health to reach out-of-school adolescents.

To the Ministry of Health

  • Improve access to reproductive health services and information for all girls and women, including access to emergency obstetric care and family planning.
  • Provide tailored health information to young mothers about proper nutrition and care for their health and the health of their babies.
  • Raise awareness among health workers and the public on the importance of registering all births, including home deliveries.

To the South Sudan Human Rights Commission

  • Increase monitoring of child marriage cases. Investigate and publish reports on child marriages and gaps in protection and access to justice for victims.
  • Work with NGOs and civil society organizations to:
    • Support the development of a national action plan to end child marriage, and once developed, design programs to aid its implementation.
    • Raise public awareness about the dangers of child marriages, including through holding dialogue with communities and traditional leaders about the harms of child marriage.
    • Assist girls in seeking legal remedies for forced marriage and abuse, obtaining maintenance, and in continuing their education.
    • Support the development of a comprehensive family law, and once it is passed, advocate for its implementation.

To NGOs and Civil Society Organizations

  • Support the development of a national action plan to end child marriage, and once developed, design programs to aid its implementation.
  • Raise public awareness about the dangers of child marriages, including through holding dialogue with communities and traditional leaders about the harms of child marriage.
  • Assist girls in seeking legal remedies for forced marriage and abuse, obtaining maintenance, and in continuing their education.
  • Support the development of a comprehensive family law, and once it is passed, advocate for its implementation.

To United Nations Agencies (especially UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF), and International Donors (especially USAID, DFID, the EU, and the Joint Donor Team)

  • Make the development and implementation of a national action plan to end child marriage, a comprehensive family law, and reforms of other laws that govern marriage and related matters key issues in political engagement with the South Sudanese government.
  • Fund programs to implement the national action plan once it is developed.
  • Support the government of South Sudan, NGOs and civil society organizations to raise public awareness about the dangers of child marriage.
  • Support the establishment of shelters for survivors and gender-based violence, including programs to provide protection for girls who seek help from child or forced marriages.
  • Ensure that donor support for justice sector reform pays specific attention to addressing discrimination against women in law and in practice.
  • Design and implement programs that will empower girls and women—as well as families—economically, since girls’ vulnerability to child marriages and abuse stems from lack of economic opportunities for them and their families. 
  • Fund programs that seek to address barriers to girls’ education, such as subsidies for school-related costs.
  • Encourage and support provision of systematic, comprehensive sexuality education for in- and out-of-school adolescents.
  • Expand support to improve access to reproductive health services and information for all girls and women, including access to emergency obstetric care and family planning.
  • Support awareness campaigns on the imperative to register births and marriages.
  • Develop a coordinated mechanism for different countries to take steps to protect, including by accepting for relocation, a small number of girls who cannot safely remain in South Sudan due to the threat of forced marriage.