II. Factors Contributing to Child Marriage in South Sudan

South Sudan is a “hot spot” for child marriage in Africa.[54] According to the 2006 Sudan Household Health Survey, close to half (48 percent) of all South Sudanese girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are married.

Research by Human Rights Watch and other organizations show that several factors—accentuated by a lack of strong judicial or policy framework to ensure that existing laws designed to prevent and address early marriage are enforced—contribute to this harmful practice in South Sudan.

Below are perhaps the most significant contributing factors to child marriage: dowry payment; poverty; and tradition and culture, including fear of teenage pregnancy outside marriage.

Dowry

Dowry payment is a key driver of child marriage in South Sudan, where families see their daughters as sources of wealth. A marriage is sealed after a man and his family negotiates and pays a dowry to a woman’s family in the form of cattle, other animals, or, increasingly, money. Human Rights Watch interviewed 47 girls who said they were forced to marry because their families wanted to get dowry. In pastoralist communities, dowry is largely paid in cattle, while agriculturalist communities combine money with cattle or other livestock. Although common in South Sudanese communities, dowry payments vary depending on ethnic group, social status, and family wealth.[55] According to Ayen C., from Bor County,

My husband paid 75 cows as dowry for me. We never talked or courted before we got married. When I learned about the marriage, I felt very bitter. I told my father, “I don’t want to go to this man.” He said, “I have loved the cattle that this man has, you will marry him.”[56]

Customary practices attach great social and economic importance to dowry payment, and a husband’s consequent rights over his wife.[57] It may increase the likelihood of violence against women by reinforcing gender stereotypes that view the woman as the property of her family or husband. Many women, including Ageer M., said that they were beaten if they resisted marrying:

The man I loved did not have cows and my uncles rejected him. My husband paid 120 cows…. I refused him but they beat me badly and took me by force to him. The man forced me to have sex with him so I had to stay there.[58]

Poverty

Poor families may view girls as a financial burden, prompting them to marry them off to alleviate that burden. In a context of limited economic resources and opportuni­ties, girls are also seen as economic assets as their marriages provide cattle, other animals, money, and gifts.[59] Some families believe that giving away their daughters in marriage may give her a chance for a better life and better prospects for the future.

Girls get married when their families cannot meet their basic needs or pay for them to continue schooling. Some of the girls interviewed told us that they got married hoping to escape poverty. Pontinanta J. has nine siblings and neither of her parents is employed. She told Human Rights Watch that she was married in 2006 at the age of 13 because “my father did not want to pay my school fees. Sometimes we had no food at home.”[60]

Tradition and Culture

Child marriage is deeply embedded in South Sudanese traditions and patriarchal cultures. Girls are generally considered ready for marriage as soon as they reach puberty and they may be pressured to marry as soon as they do. Marriage, especially early marriage, is considered the best option for girls. Those who delay marrying may be scorned by the community and labeled as “expired” goods.[61]

Twenty four-year-old Poni W. was completing her first year of university when Human Rights Watch interviewed her. She is unmarried, and has no children. She told us,

In our village, people have negative attitudes if you are mature and unmarried. People will pester you to get married. When I go home they all ask when I will get married. The boys also abuse you, saying you are expired.[62]

One significant factor contributing to child marriage is the widespread perception amongst many South Sudanese that teenage pregnancy undermines family honor. Early marriage is viewed as a way to protect girls from pre-marital sex and unwanted pregnancy, which is seen as undermining family honor—potentially reducing the amount of dowry and the family’s economic advancement. A woman interviewed by Human Rights Watch told us,

If you decide to delay your daughter’s marriage, she may get pregnant. The man may not pay many cows. That is why we marry them early. There is a big fear of girls getting pregnant out of wedlock.[63]

Akuot M. was 15 when she married a 30-year-old man in 2010 and said her father forced her into marriage because

He feared that the boda boda men [motorcycle taxi drivers] would impregnate me and reject me. He said I had already reached puberty and was too big to be in school. He said I needed to bring dowry.[64]

When unmarried girls get pregnant, or even if they are suspected of being sexually active, they may be forced to marry the man involved. Poni W. told Human Rights Watch, “In our village, once you get pregnant at home they chase you to go to the boy’s home. They don’t allow you to stay at home.” Poni told us that her brothers forced her 17-year-old sister to marry the man who impregnated her, although she did not want to and hoped to finish secondary school.[65]

Keji L., 29, wept as she told Human Rights Watch that her uncle forced her to marry her boyfriend when she was 14, convinced that she was sleeping with him after she visited him at his home:

When I returned home my uncle started beating me saying that I have chosen to visit boys so it means I want to get married…. He beat me so badly using a big stick for about an hour … asking me, “Where is the man you are sleeping with?” Some pieces of the wood got into my face and upper arm near the shoulder and I had to go to hospital [shows scars]. He beat me till we reached the boy’s home, and he left me there.... I feel a lot of pain when I remember this because I was not interested in getting married. He messed my education[66].

She said her sister was also forced to marry under similar circumstances:

She went to disco and my uncle said she had spent the night with a boy. He told her to go to him. He carried her to the man’s home.[67]

Lack of a Strong Legal and Policy Framework

South Sudan also lacks a strong legal and policy framework, and there is poor enforcement of existing laws to effectively prevent and address early and forced marriages (see Section IV).