WARRAP – “It was simple. We fell in love, started dating, and decided to get married.”
But what began like a dream for 30-year-old Sarah* soon turned into a nightmare.
In 2021, she met her current husband with whom she would soon share a home and children. Not long after, the beatings started.
“In the beginning, everything was perfect. The problems started with my in-laws coming by unannounced and accusing me of things I would never do,” she recalls.
During visits to their house in Lunyakei, they would blame her for allegedly making them feel unwelcome at the family home.
She would try to reassure her husband, but the pressure was stronger than her words. What would start out as a family dinner would often end with her suffering from various injuries.
Her sister-in-law, too, supported the ill-treatment meted out by her husband; this finally led to Sarah being thrown out of her marital home one night.
Desperate, with a newborn daughter, Sarah sought counsel from a community leader who tried to mediate, but her husband refused all efforts to improve the situation.
“He didn’t understand that what he was doing was wrong. To him, it was normal,” explains the mother of two.
It was around this time that Sarah heard about an investigation mission by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in preparation for an upcoming mobile court in and around Lunyakei with a special focus on violence against women.
She, supported by community leaders, decided to approach the UNMISS team to report her story.
Though fearful in the days leading up to the proceedings, she remained steady in her conviction that she had to stand up for her rights.
“There were a few times where I wondered I should speak up. But two things kept me going – the knowledge that I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted my children to be safe and the thought of many women going through the same thing, so I owe it to all women and girls to fight for justice.”
Sara showed up to her hearing with determination. Compelled by her arguments and convinced by her visible injuries, the judge ruled in her favor. Her husband was found guilty, though released on bail.
Moreover, Sarah is set to receive a medical imbursement amounting to some 1,200 US dollars.
For her, the most significant outcome was that justice wasn’t denied:
“I hope that this will make my husband understand that my rights are not up to him. To become a man treating women with dignity and respect rather than violence. But my biggest hope is that cases like mine are an inspiration to the women around me who may be going through similar things.”
Since the start of this ongoing mobile court on 12 February, more than 19 cases of gender-based violence have been tried in both Lunyakei and Ajogo.
This mobile court is an initiative led by the Judiciary of South Sudan (JOSS) and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MoJCA), with support from UNMISS. It is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Juba.
By Jaella Brockmann
*Names have been changed to protect identities of survivors
