Photo: UNICEF

Progress

• Signing of the Juba Peace Agreement on 3 October 2020;
• Improvement of humanitarian access in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states;
• Adoption of Plan for the Protection of Civilians in 2020.

Challenges

• Access restrictions hindered monitoring and reporting by the United Nations;
• Continuous grave violations, particularly the prevalence of the killing and maiming of children by Government security forces and armed groups, and recruitment drives by signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement.

Recommendations

For the Government:

• To refrain from any excessive use of force against children, cease the military use of schools and strengthen accountability for perpetrators of grave violations;
• To end all grave violations and to engage with the United Nations on a national prevention plan to prevent all grave violations and sustain the gains of the action plan on ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children;
• To continue to make use of the National Council for Child Welfare and the Technical Committee for the Protection of Children from Violations.

To armed groups:

• SLA-AW, including its sub-factions, to engage with the United Nations to sign an action plan, and on JEM, the Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minawi and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North-Al-Hiluand SPLM/N Malik Angar to recommit to their existing action plans with the United Nations through roadmaps for implementation;
• Transitional Government and armed groups to agree upon handover protocols for children associated with them.

For all parties:

• To immediately cease and prevent all grave violations against children and release all children from their ranks and hand them over to the Ministry of Labour and Social Development in coordination with the United Nations.