Recently, a South Sudan Girl of the age of 16, was found being auctioned off on a Facebook post for marriage rights. The image attached to the post showed the girl with an expressionless face next to a shorter man that had a wide, disturbing smile. The post went up on October 25th, the caption has a smiley emoji, and says, “Competition is perfectly allowed in Dinka/Jieng culture.” and, “The kids of the winner are guaranteed for NBA slots.” (This is in reference to her height). The highest bidder so far has offered was 500 cows and 3 cars, but several other man have stated they are planning offers. An organization known as NAWL (National Association of Women Lawyers) is in outrage over this. NAWL is an organization that supports women in the field of law as well as women rights.Monica Adhiue, acting executive director for South Sudan’s NAWL branch, stated; “The practice is a gross human rights violation and violates the rights of a girl. It does not only deprive the girl child from education and limit her future opportunities in her life, but also increases the risk of violence, jeopardizes her health, reduces the girl child to a property, and deprives her from the right to choose,”(Adhiue,2018).
As a young American, when I first saw the title of the Article, I thought that this is horrific. No girl let alone human should be treated like this especially someone who isn’t old enough to make decisions regarding marriage. I have known about human trafficking and know it’s in issue in third world countries especially Africa and the Middle East. I personally think this hits a new level because on a public domain that has millions of people on it especially from first world countries. Human trafficking should become a focus for Americans especially if it is being carried out on an American made website like Facebook. After angrily venting about how awful it is for a 16 to have there life auctioned away, I took a deep breath and tried to look in the perspective of South Sudan. Due to South Sudan’s Economy being based on a diminishing, Non-renewable resource, oil, and the fact they are the newest formed country, the majority of its citizens are poor. Now this no way makes it right to sell or trade human lives let alone the ones you create, but I guess people need to do this to survive, and maybe they think the children will live better lives. I still do not think it’s right and I also think Developed nations need to crackdown on human trafficking. I also appreciate the work NAWL has been doing and hope to see there progress in South Sudan in the near future.