South Sudan: Person living in Jonglei State can file divorce if spouse suffers from HIV/AIDS

A person living in South Sudan's Jonglei State can file for legal separation if his/her spouse is detected having HIV/AIDS, according to the new customary laws.

According to Dut Acuek Lual local government minister, the new customary law was discussed under Article 3.2 of the penal code of South Sudan 2009 to address rampant cases of divorce among natives of Jonglei. "Divorce is allowed if the woman denies her husband conjugal right for one year or if either of the spouses is infertile or has infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS that poses danger to another spouse life," the minister said, as reported by Taarifa.

The government of Joglei State of South Sudan is concerned by the increasing cases of family breakups that have prompted the state authorities to legislate restrictive family laws. The citizens from Jonglei State can only divorce before the courts within this state. It is illegal for South Sudanese from this state living out of the country to divorce.

"If you want to divorce your husband or wife please go to your respective Payam or Boma. It will not be allowed in any courts either in Bor, Juba or Diaspora," Lual added. "If the wife commits adultery with either relative of the husband or with someone else outside the family. This will really rescue our people because there are several registered cases of rampant divorce in places like Camps, USA and Australia by natives from Jonglei State," he added.

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