South Sudan Court Rules Against Marriage of Girl, 16, in Landmark Case
Published on: Tuesday 09 July 2019
A court in South Sudan has annulled a child marriage, in a rare legal case that activists say could signal a turning point for women's rights in the conservative country.
The marriage of a 16-year-old girl, the daughter of a cattle herdsman, to a 28-year-old man was deemed illegal by a court in Kapoeta late last month, the southern state's information minister Simon Karlo said this week.
Despite the legal age of marriage being 18, more than 50 percent of South Sudanese girls are wed before their 18th birthday, according to the United Nations children's agency UNICEF.
Poverty, climate change
News source: https://www.voanews.com/africa/south-sudan-court-rules-against-marriage-girl-16-landmark-case
