An international humanitarian organisation has labelled the auction of a 16-year-old girl's hand in marriage through Facebook "reminiscent of  latter-day slave markets."

Plan International said the girl was married on November 3rd after being auctioned off to the highest bidder on the social network.

The organisation said the girl's father is believed to have received 500 cows, 3 cars and $10,000 in exchange for the marriage.

It said five men participated in the auction and called on the Sudanese government to investigate reports  that some of them were high-ranking government officials.

"Barbaric"

George Otim, Country Director of Plan International South Sudan, said: “This barbaric use of technology is reminiscent of latter-day slave markets."

"That a girl could be sold for marriage on the world’s biggest social networking site in this day and age is beyond belief.

"While it is common for dowries to be used in marriages in South Sudanese culture, nothing can excuse the way this girl – who is still a child – has been treated as nothing more than an object; sold off to the bidder prepared to offer the most money and goods."

He said Plan International is calling on the South Sudanese Government to investigate and suspend any officials who took part in the bidding.

Response

Facebook said it first learned about the auction on November 9th and worked swiftly to remove the post.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Any form of human trafficking - whether posts, pages, ads or groups is not allowed on Facebook."

"We removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted this to Facebook.

"We’re always improving the methods we use to identify content that breaks our policies, including doubling our safety and security team to more than 30,000 and investing in technology.” 

"Serious violation of human rights"

Mr Otim urged any girls who find themselves facing similar situation to report to the police.

“Child marriage is a serious violation of human rights and a form of violence against girls," he said.

"It can have profound consequences on a child’s survival, health, education, development and well-being and is often carried out against their will and best interests.

"Girls who marry are at a high risk of early childbearing, maternal mortality and are also often socially isolated – cut off from family and friends and other sources of support."

UNICEF estimates that 52% of girls in South Sudan are married before their 18th birthday. The country has the fifth highest rate of child marriage in the world.