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Agency official reports 53 children reunited amid widespread child recruitment in South Sudan
Summary
An agency official said 53 children have been reunited with families this year and alleged that thousands of children have been abducted and forced to front-line roles; the program emphasizes mental-health support, local caseworkers and vocational links for reintegration.
An agency official said the program has reunited 53 children with their families so far this year and warned of "allegations of, thousands of children being forcibly recruited and abducted and taken to the front lines of the conflict here in South Sudan." The official spoke about patterns of recruitment and the program’s reintegration work.
The official said it is difficult to say with confidence who is recruiting the children and stated, "All parties to the conflict are recruiting children and youth." The speaker described a recurring trend over the last 18 months in which children are "picked up off the street," accused of being gang members or involved in criminal activity, then taken to barracks, given limited training and placed at the front lines.
Citing the program’s reunifications this year, the official said only one of the 53 children had been involved in a gang; the rest were described as vulnerable children. The speaker framed that point to argue that many recruited children are not combatants but civilians pressed into service.
The program works with more than 15 local child-protection actors, the official said, supplying community-based caseworkers "who speak the local languages, who know the children, personally," and who form trusting relationships with children. The official emphasized that the work "requires love" and "a genuine bonafide relationship with the children."
Officials also described program services for children’s recovery: mental-health and psychosocial support to address scarring, referral services for clinical care, and safe spaces "where the children can just have some fun and start to learn again." The program seeks to connect children with vocational training and livelihoods opportunities to support longer-term reintegration.
The official did not identify which armed groups were responsible for recruitment and provided no external corroborating figures beyond the program’s caseload and the reported allegations. The program’s next steps or any referrals to national or international authorities were not specified in the remarks.
