This UN base in South Sudan's capital, Juba, is home to 30,000 displaced people, living in fear of targeted killings by government forces. Children play by an armored vehicle and a watchtower manned by Chinese UN peacekeepers.
Photo Credit: AP / Jason Patinkin

UNICEF decrying child soldiers in South Sudan

South Sudan, the youngest country in the world is witnessing horrific abuses of its youngest citizens. Boys, and some girls, as young as eight and nine, are being recruited as soldiers in the ongoing conflict in that country.

It is estimated 16,000 children have been recruited by armed groups and armed forces since the crisis in South Sudan first began in December 2013 according to UNICEF. The humanitarian group says children continue to be recruited and used by armed groups and forces despite widespread political commitment to end the practice.

UNICEF is calling for an end to the violence that is stealing children’s childhoods and including the rampant sexual violence against women and girls.

 “So first and foremost, peace”

There is word this afternoon that Riek Machar, the opposition leader and former vice president of South Sudan, and his family have escaped into neighbouring Republic of Congo, but what this will mean for the peace process remains to be seen. Machar is said to be receiving treatment in hospital

In a press conference today, his replacement, Taban Deng Gai, said Machar should renounce violence, work for peace and wait until the election of 2018.

In the meantime the country that President Salva Kiir, of Dinka ethnicity, and Riek Machar, of the Nuer ethnic background, fought so hard to create, has been ravaged by violence and hunger that will leave a generation of children traumatized.

James Elder, UNICEF Regional Chief of Communication for Eastern & Southern Africa says peace is what is needed to begin to restore the children. “So first and foremost, peace”, he says.

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Elder witnessed the release of 1,775 former child soldiers in 2015 in what was one of the largest demobilizations of children ever

“In the middle of 2015 UNICEF worked so hard, with so many different, it wasn’t just one, it was different factions and different communities but we had peace at that moment” Elder said in a telephone interview from Nairobi today.

“During times of peace people can understand the real role… and value of children which is to be young citizens, to be children and to be hopefully the next future leaders and therefore educated.”

More than half of all South Sudanese children are out of school; the country has the highest proportion of out of school children in the world. Nearly a quarter million of them are facing severe acute malnutrition. 13,000 children are missing, have been separated from their families or are unaccompanied

On July 11th, in the capital, Juba, government troops defeated the opposition forces led by Machar. According to reports from victims, they then went on a nearly four-hour rampage through a residential compound popular with foreigners, while the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed nearby are accused of refusing to respond to desperate calls for help.

On August 10, 2016, South Sudan rejected a U.S. proposal that the U.N. Security Council send 4,000 additional troops to the East African country to restore calm. The South Sudanese government said it “seriously undermines” its sovereignty and threatens a return to colonialism

“We know with peace comes an end to nutritional challenges, the start of education, an end to cholera, it’s just a game-changer that puts the South Sudanese on the right path.” said James Elder.

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