http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/south-sudan-child-marriages_n_2836793.html

South Sudan- Child Marriage Rates and its tumultuous effects on Society

There is an unceasing trend in which the rights of humans- namely children- are being exploited to even the most intimate of levels. There is a huge gap between the ages of marriage in what one would consider a progressive, industrialized country and an underdeveloped one such as the country of South Sudan. The article reaches out to the hearts of those who have not witnessed these events firsthand, therefore are only subjected to connect on an empathetic level. Much controversy has been stirred by the story of this 17-year-old beaten to death for refusing to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather. In the mere refusal of marrying this man for the possible loot and dowry that she could serve to benefit her family, the teen was then subsequently dragged by her family to be raped to force her into marrying an elderly man. There are about “39,000 girls forced into marriage every day around the world, sold like cattle to enrich their families.” There are many cases like this that spark many efforts worldwide to profess the need for awareness to this growing struggle that many people in a world like ours don’t ever witness first hand. With the deprivation of a normal childhood for these young women, many other tradeoffs occur. One example of a downfall to child marriage is the abrupt end to a young child’s potential education, which furthers the cyclic devastating effects of poverty that permeates these South Sudanese societies. Furthermore, Reproductive health problems also plague girls subjected to child marriage. South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. We cannot ignore the problems that exist in worlds that are not familiar to our own. Letting these problems be heard is one step towards fixing the long existing problem of child marriage.