Payinjiar county chiefs ordered to stop early marriage and facial scarring

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

November 18, 2011 (BENTIU) – The commissioner of Unity state’s Payinjiar county Peter Gai Joak has denounced early marriage and initiation ceremonies as violation of the rights of children in the county, while addressing a meeting of local chiefs on Thursday.

Joak told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that he strongly condemned those practices, which needed quick action to bring them to an end.

Underage marriage is one of the causes of South Sudan’s high maternal mortality rate, which kills 2,054 in every 100,000 live births according to the UN. Other causes of the shockingly high rate include the fact that there are only 100 trained midwives for South Sudan’s eight million citizens.

“Getting married before reaching the maturity,” Joak said, was a “crime” and a violation to the right of girls to education and healthy growth.

Commissioner Joak called on the chiefs of Payinjiar counties’ 15 payams [districts] to take it seriously, and arrest anyone found getting married to a girl below 18 years old.

RACIAL SCARRING

The commissioner also strongly condemned the inappropriate process of initiation being used for boys in the county who are given six scars on their face or forehead to indicated that he has reached the stage of manhood.

In his speech the commissioner said the process of initiation is being abused and has lost its cultural value in African society, because boys are being scarred at too young an age. This was an abuse of the Nuer culture, he said.

Joak added, “according to Nuer culture, a boy is considered to be a man if he can do something very important to show that he is very strong enough to do everything that can be done by a man.”

He added that anyone found making scarring among boys too early, or involved in early marriage, would be responsible for their act in court.

DISARMAMENT

Joak warned the citizens seriously to totally handover their guns to the South Sudanese army as part of a state wide disarmament campaign.

Even “weapons like spears which are a threats to the communities, shall be remove in the hands of civilians,” said Joak.

Oil-producing Unity state suffers from severe instability due to rebellions and cattle raids from rival groups. South Sudan says its northern neighbour, Sudan, is supporting rebel groups in Unity state in a attempt to regain control of the oil fields that it lost when South Sudan seceded in July.

Khartoum deny the allegation, accusing south of backing rebels in north Sudan. Juba also refutes the claim.

(ST)