A/HRC/40/CRP.1 Transitional Constitution and the law. 552 Furthermore, while the Child Act, 2008 defines a child as any human being below 18 years old, the Constitution does not define the marriageable age which appears to be left to the appreciation of communities and start with puberty.553 These contradictions between the South Sudanese statutory legal framework and negative and harmful cultural practices have yet to be addressed. The protracted conflict in South Sudan has had the most profound impact on girls with regard to their physical security and the risk posed by sexual and gender-based violence, the lack of access to food and education and the lack of access to appropriate health care, especially reproductive and sexual health care.554 Despite the increase in girls͛ enrolment in schools, since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, girls face a number of challenges in accessing and remaining in formal education in South Sudan. These obstacles include the resistance of some families to educate girls, as some parents, particularly in agro-pastoralist communities, fear that in school their daughters will become pregnant or become too independent and self-assertive. It is still common for adolescent girls to miss several days of school a month due to the lack of menstrual support.555 However girls, often encouraged by their mothers, are willing to study despite barriers. 556 In South Sudan, only 16 percent of female over 15 years of age are literate, against 40 percent of males of the same age.557 Girls live in fear of being abducted during military attacks and dread being around soldiers.558 The ongoing conflict has also made girls vulnerable to trafficking, sexual exploitation and child and forced marriage, despite the Constitution and the Penal Act criminalizing these practice.559 Furthermore, displacement has led to extended family members sharing shelters creating overcrowding which tend to increase disputes and domestic violence. Living in such close proximity to each other also creates the opportunity for sexual violence against girls from males in the extended family. 560 6. Bride Price Cattle raiding happens routinely and seasonally in order to enlarge one’s herd which is considered a marker of wealth, virility and social status and is used to pay for the bride price.561 In order to afford to pay the bride price, men are pressured to acquire wealth, especially in cattle heads and to marry several women for status. 562 While boys born from these unions ensure continuity and enlargement of the clan, girls will bring in more cattle heads when they get married.563 Increased militarization has resulted in military commanders 552 Legal protection from early marriage also comes from the Child Act (2008), sections 5, 23(1), 26(1), 30 or the Local Government Act (2009), section 111(1). 553 Transitional Constitution (2011), Article 15; See M. Fadlalla, Customary Laws in Southern Sudan. Customary Laws of Dinka and Nuer, iUniverse, 2009. 554 Discussion focus group, 5 October 2018; Witness 981, ERN 101980-101992; Plan International, “Adolescent girls in crisis: Voices from South Sudan”, 2018. 555 IOM, “South Sudan Update”, November 2018, p. 5. 556 Witness 981, ERN 101980-101992. 557 What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls consortium, “No safe Place: A lifetime of violence for conflictaffected women and girls in South Sudan”, 2017; H. Jay, K. Lee-Koo, “Raising their voices: Adolescent girls in South Sudan’s Protracted Crisi”s, Monash Gender, Peace and Security, June 2018. 558 Witness 699, ERN 101521-101529; H. Jay, K. Lee-Koo, “Raising their voices: Adolescent girls in South Sudan’s Protracted Crisis”, Monash Gender, Peace and Security, June 2018. 559 Confidential Meeting, 3 October 2018; Plan International, “Adolescent girls in crisis: Voices from South Sudan”, 2018. 560 Confidential Meetings, 4 October 2018 and 27 January 2019; Plan International, “Adolescent girls in crisis: Voices from South Sudan”, 2018. 561 H. Wild et al., “The militarization of cattle raiding in South Sudan: how a traditional practice became tool for political violence”, Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 2018, 3:2; Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility South Sudan, “Gender in South Sudan”, 2018; Care, “Inequality and injustice: The deteriorating situation for women and girls in South Sudan’s war. A progressive gender analysis: 2013-2016”, 2016. What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls consortium, “No safe Place: A lifetime of violence for conflict-affected women and girls in South Sudan”, 2017; Ch. Hoots, “The role of livestock in refugee-host community relations”, Forced Migration Review, August 2018, Issue 58. pp. 71-74. See inter alia Radio Tamajuz, “Policeman killed, one injured in a cattle raid in Western Lakes State”, 10 December 2018; Radio Tamazuj, “500 cows stolen in fresh Duk Padiet raid”, 9 December 2018. 562 But it is not the only reason. 563 S. Beswick, “‘We are bought like clothes’: The war over polygamy and levirate marriage in South Sudan”, Northeast African Studies, Vol. 8, issue 2, pp. 35-62. 85