Penal Code Act

The South Sudan Penal Code, adopted in 2008, offers protections for children in a number of ways. The Penal Code prohibits and punishes all forms of abuses toward children. The Penal Act criminalizes rape (Section 247); child prostitution (Section 258); female genital mutilation (Section 259); kidnapping and abduction (Sections 269 through 275); buying or selling a child “with the intent that such a person shall be employed or used for any unlawful or immoral purpose” (Section 276). The Penal Act also states, in Section 30, “A child under twelve years of age, shall be deemed to lack criminal capacity and shall not be tried for or convicted of any offence, which he or she is alleged to have committed.”