Uganda: Supreme Court Bans Refunds of Bride Price

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/world/africa/uganda-supreme-court-bans-refunds-of-bride-price.html

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Uganda’s top court on Thursday banned the practice of refunding bride price — normally livestock given by the groom to his bride’s family — when a marriage ends in divorce. The Supreme Court agreed with activists that paying bride price undermines women’s dignity but upheld the practice nonetheless. Still, Leah Nabunnya, a spokeswoman for the Mifumi Project, a Ugandan group behind the case, said the decision was a victory. She said studies by her group showed that many women were stuck in abusive marriages because divorce meant their families would be obligated to refund the bride price.