24 October 2013 - Students from four secondary schools in Rumbek Center County today discussed the high bride price in the state, arguing that it discriminated and promoted intolerance.

“Girls and women are forced to marry people who can afford the asking price from their parents and not marrying their respective choices,” they said at one of two forums organized by UNMISS Rumbek to commemorate UN Day.

An MP who was present, Shadrack Bol Machok from Wulu County, said he had tabled a bill calling for a reduced bride price and a reconciliation of the marital age with the constitution’s age of maturity.

“There is no excuse for continuous early marriage,” Mr. Machok said. “Early and forceful marriage is inhumane. This bill will be the first on the table for discussion as soon as we reopen.”

Minister of Social Development Monica Achol Aguek said it was time to end women’s enslavement. “Girls being married early is not a tradition but self-aggrandizement of the parents. Who benefits from the marriage? It is not those who are meant to make a lifetime journey but the parents for wealth.”

The second forum was held at Yirol West County Prison with prison inmates and community residents to highlight the importance of communities welcoming prisoners on their release.

The event drew together about 160 participants, including prisoners, traditional leaders and local authorities as well as representatives of organized forces, religions, the community, women and police.

Prisoners called on UNMISS to work closely with the country’s judicial system.

“Some of us are here today not because we committed a crime but because there is no actual justice system in this country,” one inmate said. “If this trend of no fair trial continues, we will see people being jailed and peace in South Sudan will be questionable.”

Yirol West Prison Director Col. Elijah Biar Majok stressed the importance of the meeting. “If everyone plays his role, including the UN, lasting peace will return to South Sudan.”