Wiping tears from her cheeks, the young woman describes how she has resorted to prostitution to feed her children.
In this photo taken Monday, March 5, 2018, three sex workers sit in their brothel in Juba, South Sudan. (AP Photo)
When South Sudan's civil war broke out in 2013, her family fled their home to avoid violence. Her husband took her and their two children to a U.N. camp for safety. He has not been seen since then and is presumed dead. Bright and resourceful, she found offers of work as a cleaner and a waitress, but she said her male employers demanded sex.
"If you refuse to sleep with them, you'll never get a job," said Nancy, who spoke on condition of not publishing her full name.
"They'll tell you to come tomorrow for work but then start calling you the night before asking to sleep in your house," she said of the hiring managers. If she didn't respond to their demands, she'd show up to work the next day only to find that another woman had taken her place.
In three years, four bosses threatened to fire the young mother unless she had sex with them, she said. One of them told her it was "company policy," she said.
After such exploitation Nancy said she decided to do sex work, where she said she has more control and makes more money to care for her children, who are now aged 4 and 7. She said she goes to bars where she picks up clients.
"I'm embarrassed," she said, her eyes darting to the floor. "But it's my only way out."
Nancy never reported her aggressors because she thought the authorities wouldn't believe her. "I would just go home and cry," she said.
In this photo taken Monday, March 5, 2018, sex worker Irene sits in her brothel in Juba, South Sudan. (AP Photo)
As International Women's Day is being marked across the globe, South Sudan remains a country where women face grinding difficulties. While women across much of the Western world have galvanized around the #MeToo movement by speaking out against sexual assault and letting women know that they're not alone, most women in the fledgling nation of South Sudan remain voiceless.
"It's a culture of silence," says Shelina Doro, a women's protection officer with the United Nations. Most women don't want to speak out for fear of reprisal, she said.
Violence against women in South Sudan is twice the global average, with 65 percent of females experiencing physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime, according to a study by the International Rescue Committee and the Global Women's Institute.
Violence against women has escalated during South Sudan's civil war, with rape being used as a weapon of war with impunity, according to many human rights groups. Gender experts say the war has magnified preexisting inequities.
"Sexual exploitation is a manifestation and glaring symptom of deep-rooted gender inequalities," said Renifa Madenga, former gender adviser to South Sudan's Commission on Human Rights. The war has reinforced the power and control of men across the country, she said.
It is not just South Sudanese men who are sexual predators. Last month, the U.N. in South Sudan recalled a peacekeeping police unit of foreign soldiers after some members reportedly engaged in "transactional sex" with women living in a civilian protection camp.
In this photo taken Friday, March 2, 2018, sex worker Nancy sits at a local bar where she sometimes picks up clients, in Juba, South Sudan. (AP Photo)
South Sudan's government encourages women to report any type of harassment, but officials say most women aren't aware of their rights. Last year no reports were filed of sexual assault in the workplace, said James Simon, senior inspector in the Ministry of Labor.
"Women tell me the government doesn't give them rights, but these are human rights and most of them don't know that," said Pita Rosalie, a social worker with the Ministry of Gender.
Rights groups are pushing campaigns like #MeToo and #HerToo to go further than spreading awareness and to focus on advocacy and action, especially across Africa where the movement has yet to gain steam.
"Ultimately the campaign that has empowered many, can help empower an effort to create an African solution to what surely is a global problem and ensure that no one is left behind," said Cormac Smith, advocacy officer at Southern African Liaison Office, a South African-based rights organization, to The Associated Press.
Even though some women are fighting for a seat at the table, more than awareness is needed, said Funmi Balogun, a women's rights activist working with U.N. Women in South Sudan.
South Sudan is "patriarchal, militarized and in conflict," said Balogun. "I doubt if #MeToo would gain any traction at this point or even in the near future."
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge ordered public defenders to represent four members of an anti-government group who appeared in court Wednesday on charges of kidnapping and killing two Kansas women.
The judge also entered not-guilty pleas and denied bail for Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend, Tad Cullum, 43, both of Keyes, Oklahoma, as well as Cole and Cora Twombly of Texhoma, Oklahoma.
Texas County Associate District Judge Clark Jett assigned the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System to represent all four defendants, OIDS Executive Director Tim Laughlin told The Associated Press. Laughlin declined to comment about any details of the case or the defendants, citing his agency's policy.
“The reason we don’t comment is to protect our client’s privileges and our client’s interest throughout the trial process,” Laughlin said.
All four are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in the killing of 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley of Hugoton, Kansas, who disappeared on May 30 while driving to Oklahoma to pick up Butler's children and attend a birthday party.
During an interview with investigators, Adams, the children's grandmother, admitted she was responsible for the deaths of Butler and Kelley, according to a prosecutor's motion for the defendants to be held without bond.
“Adams, Cullum, Cora and Cole have resources sufficient to organize and execute a complex murder,” OSBI Lt. Amie Gates wrote in an affidavit. “Therefore, they also have the resources to flee if given the opportunity.”
Adam and Cullum also own numerous firearms, and Cullum had a rifle, ammunition, body armor and a “go-bag” prepared at his home, the affidavit says.
Authorities say Adams and Butler were in the middle of a bitter custody battle. Kelley, a pastor's wife, went along with Butler as a court-approved observer to supervise the visit. They never showed up for the party, setting off a two week search that ended with the two couples' arrests on Saturday and the discovery of the bodies on Sunday.
Arrest affidavits painted a gruesome picture of the scene where the women's car was found, not far from the rural highway intersection where Butler had arranged to pick up her son and daughter from Adams. Investigators found blood on the road and Butler’s glasses near a broken hammer.
According to a witness who spoke to Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents, all four suspects were part of “an anti-government group that had a religious affiliation." The affidavits said they called themselves “God’s Misfits” and held regular meetings at the home of the Twomblys and another couple who Adams said watched the children the day the women disappeared.
Relatives of Tad Cullum and the Twomblys have not returned phone messages seeking comment. Tifany Adams’ stepmother, Elise Adams, said she had no information to share.
This booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Tad Bert Cullum. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people, including Cullum, with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Cora Twombly. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people, including Twombly, with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Cole Earl Twombly. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people, including Twombly, with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Tifany Machel Adams. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people, including Adams, with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)
FILE - This combination photo shows Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley, right. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of the two Oklahoma women. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP, File)
This combination of booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Tad Bert Cullum, top left, Cora Twombly, top right, Tifany Machel Adams, bottom left, and Cole Earl Twombly, bottom right. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged these four people with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)
