This study analyses the conflicting interests of rights which exist in the new constitution of Southern Sudan: the rights of people in Southern Sudan to their culture (customary law); and human rights, particularly as experienced by women. Analyses of extensive in-depth interviews conducted in Southern Sudan demonstrate how the states withdrawal from the private sphere and the application of customary law in its current highly patriarchal shape stands in direct conflict with womens rights. Within the framework of post-conflict reconstruction in Southern Sudan, the exclusion of women from...