South Sudan government should the expedite implementation of the 2020 comprehensive action plan to end and prevent all violations against children, a United Nations report stated.
The report was submitted by the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict to members of the United Nations General Assembly pursuant to its resolution 76/147 on the rights of the child.
Covering the period from August 2021 to July 2022, the 17-page document describes trends, issues of concern as well as progress that had been made.
The report also outlined challenges and priorities on children and armed conflict, giving recommendations to protect children affected by conflict.
“In South Sudan, the Government continued to implement the 2020 Comprehensive Action Plan to End and Prevent all Grave Violations against Children, in particular through the provision of increased access to the United Nations for age screening. In May 2022, the Government and the United Nations in South Sudan organized a national conference on children and armed conflict, in which the Special Representative also participated,” party reads the report.
On 23 and 24 May 2022, it noted, the Special Representative visited Juba, where she jointly opened the national conference on children and armed conflict and met with key stakeholders, including the President, First Vice-President and Vice-President of South Sudan, as well as cabinet members, United Nations partners, the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict based in South Sudan and civil society actors, including children, to assess progress made in the implementation of the 2020 action plan.
The report, however, said progress was made in Implementation of the 2020 comprehensive action plan to end and prevent all grave violations against children, citing increased access to barracks for age screening exercises.
The report appealed to all parties in South Sudan’s conflict to immediately cease and prevent all violations, to facilitate humanitarian assistance and protect humanitarian personnel and to release associated children.
It further urged government to recognise importance of the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCISS) including its provisions relating to children.
The government should “combat the prevalent impunity for grave violations and to hold perpetrators accountable, including through the designation of a focal point on children and armed conflict in the Ministry of Justice”.
In 2021, the United Nations verified an overall number of 23,982 grave violations against children, including 1,337 that had occurred prior to 2021 but were only verified in 2021. Over 6,310 children (5,707 boys, 603 girls) were recruited and used by parties to conflict, with the highest numbers verified in the Democratic Republic of Congo, (DRC), Syria, Somalia and Mali.
Source: Sudan Tribune