Unicef: At least 17,000 children recruited as soldiers in S. Sudan since 2013

Children who are soldiers listen to a speech after being released from a group called Cobra Faction and from the main Sudan People's Liberation Movement In Opposition rebel faction during a ceremony in Tenet, South Sudan on October 26, 2016. PHOTO | CHARLES ATIKI LOMODONG | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The UN has since last month documented at least 50 children who were abducted and recruited in the Greater Upper Nile, with unverified reports that an additional 50 others may have been recruited in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal.

  • The agency said it had also received reports of grave violations against children committed in the Greater Equatoria.

JUBA, Thursday

At least 17,000 child soldiers have been recruited in South Sudan since the outbreak of the civil war in 2013, Unicef said. The UN agency said both the government and the rebel groups were guilty of recruiting child soldiers.

“Since the first day of this conflict, children have been the ones most devastatingly affected by the violations.

“Now, as the fighting intensifies – and despite repeated pledges by all to end child recruitment – children are once again being targeted,” Unicef Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala said Thursday.

The UN has since last month documented at least 50 children who were abducted and recruited in the Greater Upper Nile, with unverified reports that an additional 50 others may have been recruited in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal. The agency said it had also received reports of grave violations against children committed in the Greater Equatoria.