Rumbek youth union condemn Rumbek high court ruling
By Manyang Mayom
May 2, 2011 (RUMBEK) – The Nairobi branch of Rumbek Youth Union (RumYU), a Lakes state youth organisation, has written a petition letter to the government of Lakes state criticising parliament, the executive and judiciary for having let them at Rumbek High Court with the implementation of new customary laws.
The controversy surrounds the implementation of paedophilia laws which has seen the imprisonment of several youths from Lakes state for having sex with underage girls.
Malual explained that “we have seen our innocent brothers suffering simply because the law in Lakes state is bias and misinterpreted since it had targeted specific group”. Malual has the view that the women involved are culpable “deliberately or through negligence”.
He said he would like to ask governor of Lakes state, Chol Tong Mayay the following: why the bill had become a law? If the governor does not have in-depth knowledge of legal practises, why he is practising law in the government? Why did he ignore the RumYU campaign.
The Lakes state minister of legal affair, Margaret Samuel Aru came under criticism from RumYU for her lack of involvement in the controversy
RumYU called for the immediate release of their colleagues who are behind bars.
Over 60 youths are in Lakes state main prison charged with having sex with underage girl’s with sentences of between 14 and 17 years.
According to Lakes state governor Chol Tong Mayay, the decision to incarcerate the youths came from the Supreme Court in Juba. Mayay was critical of high court judge Geri Raimondo Legge.the judge for having not applied the law correctly saying that the ruling in Rumbek high court “did not reach international standards”.
Minister of legal affairs Margaret Samuel Aru, said that those youths arrested in Lakes state for having sex with underage girls are going to be released before the declaration of South Sudan’s independence on 9 July 2011. Aru made the announcement when speaking alongside the Governor at a press conference for the recent inter-clan clashes in Gong and Thuyic in Rumbek East county.
A senior official in the Government of Southern Sudan who requested not to be named said the “application of different laws including customary law, the child act, and the penal code, without observing the cultural diversity is a question of law. The child act is not yet launched and yet it is only in Rumbek town where this law is being applied. This is taking our society in an unknown direction No right is being protected in this case; neither the right of girl nor the right the of boy because the very girl whom the judge claimed to be a child is immediately forced into marriage with another man by her relatives and the law is silent.
The age assessment unit in the hospital is a key player; for the last years of war there were no birth register in Rumbek.
(ST)