A Human Rights Watch report has called on South Sudan to increase efforts to protect girls from widespread child marriage in the country. The practice “exacerbates pronounced gender gaps in school enrollment, contributes to soaring maternal mortality rates, and violates the right of girls to be free from violence, and to marry only when they are able and willing to give their free consent.” According to government statistics, close to 48% of South Sudanese girls between 15 and 19 are married, some as young as age 12.
