This archive report was first published on 17 September 2019.
South Sudan is facing a growing threat of child soldiers, despite a peace deal signed last year, the head of a United Nations investigating body has warned.
Yasmin Sooka, chair of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, said that investigators have observed a reversal in the forced recruitment of children, with both government and rebel groups seeking to swell their numbers.
"Ironically, the prospect of a peace deal has accelerated the forced recruitment of children, with various groups now seeking to boost their numbers before they move into the cantonment sites," Sooka told the UN Human Rights Council in August.
According to Sooka, some of the child soldiers are girls who provide sexual and labour services to the fighters.
South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war, but plunged into its own conflict at the end of 2013.
Both sides agreed in September 2018 to end a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and to form a national army, but implementation has been slow.
President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar met last week and agreed to form a transitional government by the middle of November, a possible sign of progress.
However, Sooka said that the prospect of creating a new army for the oil-rich state could be spurring recruitment of children, as young fighters looked for handouts.
"Once the selection process takes place for the unified army the remaining ones who are not selected will be demobilised through the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) process and so the incentives of being able to access a DDR package may be an incentive to swell the numbers," she said.
South Sudan Ambassador Akech Chol Ahou Ayok said that his government was committed to the peace process, but did not respond to the specific allegation of child soldiers raised by the UN team.
On September 17, 2019, Sooka expressed her concerns about a possible revival of the broader conflict due to localised flare-ups and ethnic tensions.
