This archive report was first published on 10 July 2019.
On July 10, 2019, a court in South Sudan made history by annulling the marriage of a 16-year-old girl to a 28-year-old man, a rare legal case that could signal a turning point for women's rights in the conservative country.
The marriage, which was deemed illegal by a court in Kapoeta, was arranged by the girl's father, uncle, and groom, who paid a dowry of 60 cows to the bride's family.
According to Simon Karlo, South Sudan's information minister, the court's ruling was a significant step forward in the fight against child marriage, which affects over 50 percent of South Sudanese girls before their 18th birthday.
Activists say the ruling could set a precedent for other girls in the country wishing to end marriages entered into at a young age.
“Child marriage is common in Kapoeta because the communities are cattle keepers and so they use their daughters for wealth,” Karlo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
The girl's father, uncle, and groom were each sentenced to three years in prison, but their sentence was later overturned at the request of the girl and on the condition of a written “commitment” from the men pledging not to force her into marriage again.
As a way of harmonizing the statutory law and customary law, the sentence was suspended and the girl was put under the protection of a guardian, said Josephine Chandiru, executive director of Steward Women.
“This was a historical moment... The judge opened a gateway for us to use it as a precedent in future child marriage cases,” Chandiru said.
