Prostitution Prostitution laws in South Sudan
South Sudan's Penal Code Act 2008 does not penalise selling or buying sex in private, but criminalises most of what surrounds it. Publicly soliciting another person for prostitution carries up to six months' imprisonment, a fine or both (section 252), and a person who in a public place solicits or importunes for immoral purposes, or lives on the earnings of a sex worker, can be convicted as a vagabond (up to three months). Keeping a brothel, or demanding payment from a sex worker for managing, soliciting for or bringing them into the country, carries up to two years (section 253), and procuring a person to become a prostitute up to two years, or ten years where the person is a child (section 254). Adultery is an offence (section 266). Human Rights Watch documented arrests, six-month sentences and forced HIV tests of women accused of sex work in Juba in 2021.
Legal model
Legal, organisation banned. Selling and buying are legal, but brothels, procuring and organising are criminal offences.
The Penal Code Act 2008 defines prostitution as "an immoral sexual intercourse for a consideration" but does not make the act itself an offence. Public soliciting (section 252), brothel-keeping and living off prostitution (section 253) and procuring (section 254) are offences, and the vagrancy section covers soliciting for immoral purposes in public. Human Rights Watch describes sex work as criminalised; in practice the soliciting and vagrancy offences reach most street-based work.[1][2]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | Selling sex is not itself an offence, but whoever publicly solicits another person for the purposes of prostitution commits soliciting, punishable with up to six months' imprisonment, a fine or both (section 252). A person who in any public place solicits or importunes for immoral purposes is a vagabond, punishable with up to three months or a fine (section 379(1)(d)).[1][2] |
| Buying sexual services | Legal | No provision makes paying for sex an offence. The soliciting offence in section 252 is worded for "whoever publicly solicits another person" and can apply to a client who solicits in public. Sexual intercourse with a person known to be another's spouse is adultery, punishable with up to two years or a fine, or dealt with under customary law (section 266).[1] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Illegal Criminal offence | Whoever keeps a brothel, or demands payment from a sex worker for keeping, managing or assisting in keeping the brothel where they live, commits facilitating prostitution, punishable with up to two years' imprisonment, a fine or both (section 253). A parent or guardian who allows a child to reside in a brothel faces up to ten years (section 258).[1] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Illegal Criminal offence | Procuring a person to become a prostitute, to leave South Sudan to become one, or to leave home to become an inmate of a brothel elsewhere carries up to two years, or up to ten years where the person is a child (section 254). Demanding payment from a sex worker for soliciting on their behalf or bringing them into the country is facilitating prostitution (section 253), and knowingly living on a sex worker's earnings is vagrancy (section 379).[1] |
| Advertising sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | No provision names advertising of sexual services. Publicly soliciting for prostitution is an offence (section 252), soliciting on a sex worker's behalf for payment is facilitating prostitution (section 253(b)(ii)), and selling, distributing or publicly exhibiting obscene material carries up to three years (section 260).[1] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
Selling sex is not itself an offence, but whoever publicly solicits another person for the purposes of prostitution commits soliciting, punishable with up to six months' imprisonment, a fine or both (section 252). A person who in any public place solicits or importunes for immoral purposes is a vagabond, punishable with up to three months or a fine (section 379(1)(d)).[1][2]
Note. Human Rights Watch reported in 2021 that the Juba mayor's office publicised the arrest of about 40 people, mainly women accused of witchcraft or sex work, some of whom received six-month sentences or fines and reported forced HIV testing.
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
No provision makes paying for sex an offence. The soliciting offence in section 252 is worded for "whoever publicly solicits another person" and can apply to a client who solicits in public. Sexual intercourse with a person known to be another's spouse is adultery, punishable with up to two years or a fine, or dealt with under customary law (section 266).[1]
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
Whoever keeps a brothel, or demands payment from a sex worker for keeping, managing or assisting in keeping the brothel where they live, commits facilitating prostitution, punishable with up to two years' imprisonment, a fine or both (section 253). A parent or guardian who allows a child to reside in a brothel faces up to ten years (section 258).[1]
Note. The Act does not define "brothel"; whether sex workers sharing premises would be treated as keeping one was not checked.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
Procuring a person to become a prostitute, to leave South Sudan to become one, or to leave home to become an inmate of a brothel elsewhere carries up to two years, or up to ten years where the person is a child (section 254). Demanding payment from a sex worker for soliciting on their behalf or bringing them into the country is facilitating prostitution (section 253), and knowingly living on a sex worker's earnings is vagrancy (section 379).[1]
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
No provision names advertising of sexual services. Publicly soliciting for prostitution is an offence (section 252), soliciting on a sex worker's behalf for payment is facilitating prostitution (section 253(b)(ii)), and selling, distributing or publicly exhibiting obscene material carries up to three years (section 260).[1]
Confidence: low. Whether online advertising counts as public soliciting has not been tested in any case found; the classification is inferred from the statutory wording.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| The Penal Code Act, 2008 (Act 9), Acts Supplement No. 1 to the Southern Sudan Gazette No. 1 Vol. I, 10 February 2009 Penal Code Act 2008 (Act 9) s. 5 (definition) · ss. 252–258 · s. 260 · s. 266 · s. 276 · s. 379 | Defines prostitution and sets the offences of soliciting, facilitating prostitution, procuring, child-related prostitution offences, obscenity, adultery and vagrancy.[1] | 2009 |
Timeline
- 10 February 2009The Penal Code Act 2008 is published in Acts Supplement No. 1 to the Southern Sudan Gazette, with a chapter of offences relating to prostitution.[1]
- September 2021Human Rights Watch reports that the Juba mayor's office publicised the humiliation and arrest of women accused of sex work, with forced HIV tests in Juba central prison.[2]
Sources
- The Penal Code Act, 2008 (Act 9), Acts Supplement No. 1 to the Southern Sudan Gazette No. 1 Vol. I, 10 February 2009. Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development (copy hosted by Antislavery in Domestic Legislation, University of Nottingham), 10 February 2009. legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- South Sudanese Officials Intimidate Sex Worker on Camera. Human Rights Watch, 20 September 2021. ngo · accessed 30 October 2026