Child marriage rising among refugees and host communities in South Sudan

Country: South Sudan Source: United Nations Population Fund UPPER NILE STATE, South Sudan — “I was married and had my first child at 14 years old,” said Betty*, who fled conflict in Sudan only to find further uncertainty in South Sudan. Along with more than half a million refugees and returnees from neighbouring Sudan , Betty is currently seeking safe haven in a village in Renk County, in Upper Nile State. The area has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting in South Sudan’s current crisis, and many of those seeking shelter are adolescent girls. Betty is just one of many child brides caught up in this crisis. Approximately 210,900 girls in the country are married before 15 years old. Child marriage is common in crisis settings, often seen as a coping mechanism for families that are struggling financially; some consider marrying a stranger to be safer for their daughters than facing the sexual violence and coercion that are all too pervasive in displacement, conflict and other crisis settings. The circumstances leading to Betty’s marriage were “beyond description”, she told UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which is the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency. She was reluctant to share more information, but noted, “I’m a single mother now.” Marriage, motherhood too soon National trends actually show encouraging signs of decline in child marriage, the result of ongoing advocacy. Data from 2023 estimated more than half of girls in South Sudan were married before turning 18; the most recent data , from 2026, finds that this has fallen to roughly four in ten girls. But the crisis in border areas like Renk threatens to undo this progress, driving localized spikes among displaced populations. Driven by extreme poverty and traditional dowry systems that promise a daughter’s marriage in exchang...

Original source: Relief Web