South Sudan

Grave Violations

*The information below is based on the Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/76/871-S/2022/493) issued on 11 July 2022. Violations that occurred in previous years but were verified in 2021 have been included in the totals above.

Developments & Concerns

Progress

Implementation of the 2020 comprehensive action plan to end and prevent all grave violations against children.
Increased access to barracks provided by the Government to the United Nations for age screening exercises

Challenges

High number of children recruited and used, particularly by Government security forces.
Escalating subnational violence and the impact of climate change across South Sudan.

Recommendations

To the Government:

To expedite implementation of the action plan and for the Government to budget for this accordingly.
To recognize importance of the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, including its provisions relating to children.
To 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.
To continue cooperation of parties to conflict with the United Nations and the National Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission.
To recognize need for child-sensitive disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, for coordinated mine action and for gender-sensitive and survivor centred reintegration and assistance programmes, including for survivors of sexual violence.

To All Parties:

To immediately cease and prevent all violations, to facilitate humanitarian assistance and protect humanitarian personnel, and to release associated children by the Government and other parties.