SUDAN Country Brief UNICEF Regional Study on Child Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa
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SUDAN - Regional Study on Child Marriage 1 SUDAN Country Brief UNICEF Regional Study on Child Marriage In the Middle East and North Africa UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Oce This report was developed in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The views expressed and information contained in the report are not necessarily those of, or endorsed by, UNICEF. Acknowledgements The development of this report was a joint effort with UNICEF regional and country offices and partners, with contributions from UNFPA. Thanks to UNICEF and UNFPA Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, Morocco and Egypt Country and Regional Offices and their partners for their collaboration and crucial inputs to the development of the report. Proposed citation: ‘Child Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa – Sudan Country Brief’, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Middle East and North Africa Regional Office in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women (IRCW), 2017. SUDAN - Regional Study on Child Marriage 3 4 SUDAN - Regional Study on Child Marriage SUDAN Regional Study on Child Marriage Key Recommendations Girls’ Voice and Agency Build capacity of women parliamentarians to effectively Provide financial incentives for sending girls raise and defend women-related issues in the parliament. to school through conditional cash transfers. Increase funding to NGOs for child marriage-specific programming. Household and Community Attitudes and Behaviours Engage receptive religious leaders through Legal Context dialogue and awareness workshops, and Coordinate advocacy efforts to end child marriage to link them to other organizations working on ensure the National Strategy is endorsed by the gov- child marriage, such as the Medical Council, ernment, and the Ministry of Justice completes its re- CEVAW and academic institutions. visions of the 1991 Personal Status Laws. Implement holistic community program- ming using UNICEF Communication for De- Evidence Generation velopment approaches. Provide technical and financial support to the Na- tional Bureau of Statistics’ new Gender Unit. Service Delivery Establish strong M&E systems using UNICEF’s global Develop a law enforcement plan, to include monitoring framework, Monitoring Results for Equi- advocacy, training, and sensitization of all ty Systems (MoRES), to monitor child marriage pro- stakeholders to ensure the implementation gramme activities. of the revised Personal Status Law and the National strategy, upon approval. Strengthen and standardize key indicators. Wherever possible, data on the sex of respondents should be Increase coordination between stakeholders captured to allow gender disaggregation of all statistics. to ensure that progress on ending child mar- riage in Sudan presses forward and to avoid Commission a study on social norms perpetuating duplication of efforts. child marriage in Sudan. SUDAN - Regional Study on Child Marriage 5 POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CONTEXT Since gaining independence in 1956, much Notably, Sudan also submitted reservations to Article of Sudan’s history has been characterized by 10 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare conflict. Whilst the July 2011 succession of of the Child 2008, which requires signatories to ban the southern states decreased levels of vio- child marriage, and to guarantee that pregnant girls lence, South Sudan’s ongoing struggles con- will have access to education. Sudan also did not tinue to affect Sudan. Over 100,000 South Su- sign the Convention on the Elimination of all forms danese have fled to Sudan since 2011, with an of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Howev- additional 7,000 crossing the border following er, as of 2013, the Sudanese Ministry of Justice was the outbreak of violence in Juba in July 2016.1 reviewing CEDAW, with plans of conducting a study and submitting it to the Council of Ministers for their These sustained conflicts have limited Su- consideration.7 dan’s opportunities for economic and social development, and increased poverty across the country.2 According to the National Base- PREVALENCE line Household Survey 2010, 46.5 per cent of the population are impoverished, with 57.6 OF CHILD MARRIAGE per cent of the rural population living below the poverty line.3 The country’s weak eco- The Sudan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)8 nomic development has also affected the Su- 2014 found that amongst women ages 20 to 24, 11.9 danese government budgets for health and per cent had married before age 15 and 34.2 per cent social services – both budgets decreased sig- had married before age 18.9 When comparing the nificantly between 2011 and 2014, although percentage of women and girls married by exact age, the government expenditure on education 15 or 18, by their age cohort (see Figure 1), there is no increased between 2003 and 2013.4 consistent change in child marriage over time. How- ever, there does appear to be a slight decrease in the In 1990, Sudan became one of the first coun- two youngest age cohorts, providing some evidence tries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights that child marriage has recently begun to decrease. of the Child (CRC).5 Since then Sudan has worked on a comprehensive Child Act that Figure 1: Percent married by exact age 15 and 18, was enacted in 2010. The Child Act “supports by 5-year age cohort, Sudan: the implementation of international treaties at national level, and ensures that nation- 50 al child-related legislation conforms to the 40.9 40 40 37.8 38.6 37.9 CRC.” It also establishes a comprehensive 34.2 Justice for Children System, and defines a 30 child as “every person who is not above 18 20 6 14.6 14.7 years old.” Significantly, the Child Act did 13.7 13.8 12.4 11.9 not include any mention of child marriage, 10 5.7 which is largely legal in Sudan. The only legis- 0 lation that addresses child marriage is Article 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 40 of the 1991 Muslim Personal Status law, Married by exact age 15 which states that girls can marry once they Married by exact age 18 reach puberty and that judges can approve Source: MICS 201410 the marriage of girls who are as young as 10 Note that the percent married by age 18 cannot be calculated for the youngest years old. age cohort, since it includes girls who are not yet 18. 6 SUDAN - Regional Study on Child Marriage As shown in Figure 2, educational attainment Table 1: Key Informant Interviews is associated with child marriage. Amongst all women 20-49, the percentage married by exact Government age 15 and 18 consistently decreases for each National Taskforce to End Child Marriage in Sudan, increase in level of educational attainment. For including: example, less than 1 in 20 (3.1 per cent) wom- en who completed higher education married Representatives from the National Council on before age 18, compared to over half (54.6 per Child Welfare (NCCW) cent) of women with no education.11 Ministry of Justice and its Human Rights and National Laws Department Figure 2: Percentage of women 20-49 mar- Ministry of Social Welfare ried by exact age 15 & 18, by level of edu- Federal Ministry of Health cation, Sudan: Ministry of Guidance and Endowment Ministry of Education 60 54.6 43.5 UN 45 UNICEF UN Women UNFPA 30 20.8 20.2 Donors 16.2 15 15.1 3.1 Embassy of Sweden in Khartoum 0.1 0 European Union None Primary Secondary Higher NGOs Married by exact age 15 Married by exact age 18 Plan International Sudanese Organisation for Research Source: MICS 2014 METHODOLOGY 12 and Development (SORD) Babiker Badri Scientific Association forWomen’s Studies (BBSAWS) 13 METHODOLOGY Regional Institute of Gender Diversity Peace and Rights - Ahfad University The data presented here was collected via for Women (AUW) desk review and key informant interviews with staff in two governmental institutions, Development Studies and Research three UN agencies, two donors, and six Institute - University of Khartoum non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Gender Centre Interviews were conducted in person from 3.1 November 12-25, 2016. All interviews were coded independently by two researchers, using NVivo 11 to distil key themes which LIMITATIONS were then organized through thematic con- tent analysis. The findings were then aligned This report presents the main findings strictly based with the Global Platform’ five outcomes (de- on the interviews and one focus group conducted in scribed below) and cross-checked with the Khartoum, and are therefore, limited to those catego- local researchers to ensure that the data ries of respondents which included experts from the were consistent with their overall impres- Government, UN agencies, and NGO/Service Provid- sions during the field missions. ers/Donors. Considering the study’s goals and focus SUDAN - Regional Study on Child Marriage 7 on scaling up promising programmatic ap- discussion of women’s mobility within their communities, proaches, the study focused on service pro- and little consideration of how to change intra-house- viders, government officials, multilateral hold bargaining and decision-making dynamics. agencies, and donors—all of whom would be able to identify ‘best practices’ to end Poverty and gender inequity restricts girls’ child marriage. As a result, the findings are access to education and drives child marriage only representative of these respondent’s views of promising approaches to end child Access to school and particularly secondary edu- marriage in Sudan. cation is an important deterrent to child marriage around the world, as demonstrated in several studies. However, key informants noted that for families with KEY FINDINGS limited resources, opportunity costs can often justify not sending their daughters to school. High unem- The key findings are outlined within the ployment rates in Sudan limit the value parents place framework of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Pro- on giving their daughters quality education.