Schoolgirls at a cultural event in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes State, in 2019 | Credit | Loreto Schools

A civil society group has condemned killing of young girls over pregnancy in Lakes State.

Based in the state, the Agency for Girls’ Education and Development or AGED, has documented seven cases for the last 10 years.

“It has come to the attention of the AGED that continuous killing of girls and women is unbearable and would like the authorities to bring the culprits to face justice so that this inhumane act must stop as soon as possible,” partly reads a statement.

The latest incident occurred in Cueibet at the weekend when a 15-year-old girl was beaten to death by her brothers after her sister got pregnant.

In January 2020, a girl was also beaten to death in Cueibet County because she got impregnated by a man her family considered poor.

Similar incidents occurred in Yirol town, Rumbek north and Rumbek east counties.

The young girls lost their lives despite the constitutional provision which guarantees the women and girls the right to consent to marriage.

AGED urges the government to hold the perpetrators to account and judgment of the accused must be made public.

It also called upon the concerned authorities “to implement the law to protect girls and women against forced marriage and other forms of gender-based violence”.