8 The Report March 2014
Domestic Obstruction
by Siena Morton
South Sudan is on the edge of a civil war. Many unsettling conflicts are involved, but today I am focusing one of the many major issues. This article will include; child marriage, domestic violence, and sexual abuse in South Sudan.
The fighting began in Juba, Sudan on December 15th and very quickly spread all over the country. THe UN Assistant Secretary-General of Human Rights, Ivan Simonovc, took a four day journey into the country and stated that he immediately saw things such as mass killings, judicial killings, destruction of property, and sexual violence. (Ilya Gridneff 2014)
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of U.N. Women, is wrapping up a two day visit to South Sudan. During her stay, she visited a U.N. base in Juba, South Sudan where thousands have gone for refuge from the fighting that began in December. There, Ngcuka said that women told her about their suffering, the violence they have seen, and even the people they have lost and been separated from. She says, "They told me about the lack of food, water, medication, and the lack of safe spaces for them and their children to receive some form of education. They told me about disease and death. And they told me about their yearning for peace for South Sudan,". (UN News Centre 2014) More than 40% of women and children in South sudan have suffered from physical or sexual violence. One in three women from ages 20-24 were first married before they turned 18 and one third of them were under 15. One in three women from ages 20-24 were first married before they turned 18 and one third of them were under 15. This is a huge conflict in South Sudan and can lead to unwanted pregnancies and even death to children. (Unicef 2012) Fortunately, The South Sudan Child Act prohibits children from harmful things that affect their health. This act protects every female child from sexual abuse, rape, inscest, early and forced marriage, female circumcision, and female genital mutilation.
13 year old Elizabeth living in Kapoeta is one of the few lucky girls that were able to get around child marriage. Elizabeth was forcefully removed from her middle school by her brothers to be exchanged for cattle, but thanks to her mother and the Child Act she was able to go back to school. Elizabeth states that she is grateful to be back in school and not have been married off. She believes that more educated girls are able to help their parents in the long run.
UNICEF and The South Sudan Child Act are trying to bring awareness to this issue as a whole and are trying to stop child marriage and sexual abuse, along with many other conflicts. Our country is not yet aware of this issue and if we all came together we could get it to stop. Thankfully we do have organizations that help raise money and bring awareness to these issues but we still need to get the public more involved. Hopefully as time goes on we can strategize ways to help the cruelty dissolve in South Sudan.