Children’s Rights – 2018
2018
Under the R-ARCSS, the signatories agreed to refrain from recruiting or using child soldiers in their armed forces.
In October, The CTSAMVM reported that it “observed Child Soldiers in the ranks of IO forces” in October in Western Equatoria and Unity states. The SPLM/A-IO claimed that there were no child soldiers in their forces in Western Equatoria and promised to investigate in Unity state.[1]
In November, The CTSAMVM investigated the use of child soldiers by the SPLM/A-IO in Unity state, as well as child soldiers in the SSPDF that local commanders claimed were part of a militia being integrated into the SSPDF. The transitional government rejected the claim that there were child soldiers in the SSPDF.[2] The CTSAMVM reported several instances where it had verified the use of child soldiers in the SPLM/A-IO, which the SPLM/A-IO pledged to investigate.[3]
In December, the CTSAMVM did not report additional observations of child soldiers. The SSPDF claimed that the child soldiers identified in November had been demobilized. The SPLM/A-IO claimed that the child soldiers identified in their ranks in November were orphans. Neither claim was independently verified.[4]
[1] “Progress report no. 2: Status of implementation of the R-ARCSS 2018,” Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, October 12, 2018.
[2] “Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) fourth meeting,” Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, November 8, 2018.
[3] “Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) fifth meeting,” Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, November 28, 2018.
[4] “Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) sixth meeting,” Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, December 19, 2018.