Child soldier recruitment and armed conflict in South Sudan: a case of Malakal, Upper Nile State

Abstract

The recruitment and use of children plus other grave violations during armed conflict is common occurrence which SPLA is no exception. An estimated 16,000 children were reported .to have been recruited as child soldiers during the early stages of the war in December 2013. This study set out to explore why the SPLM/A has continued to recruit and use children as soldiers in Malakal, Upper Nile State. The specific objectives are, to establish knowledge on child rights, document attitudes of SPLA towards child rights, to explore how SPLA recruits children into its force and review measures that SPLA has put in place to stop recruitment and use of child soldiers. The study revealed that children were recruited to join armed conflict because they follow orders, easy to recruit and form a cheap and free source of labour. The study recommends that the fighting forces should implement and adhere to legal frameworks that protect children in situations of armed conflict. Vacate existing schools, so they can be used for the rightful purposes as well as need to build more schools including vocational training schools in the area to provide learning spaces for the children demobilized from the forces and do not have specific skills to find employment and sensitization of army leadership on child rights and the effects of armed conflict on children. This will mitigate recruitment and involvement of children in armed conflict.