The South Sudan army with support from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS) is constructing a child protection office within the army headquarters, in a bid to meet the army’s child-free goal.
According to UNMISS, South Sudan People’s Defense Forces Major General Chaplain Khamis Edward said the office is mainly for the protection of children.
“We are tackling six things, and we don’t want these six grave violations to continue within the SSPDF or outside the SSPDF. We want to put an end into the use and recruitment of children,” Khamis who is the head of child protection at SSPDF.
He added, “we want to put an end to occupation of schools, abduction of children, sexual violence against children, hindering of access – access will be free for humanitarians to deliver what they want to deliver – and we will be moving ahead together."
Khamis noted that construction work is on schedule and the new facility is expected to be launched in three months.
UNMISS head of child protection office Alfred Orono-Orono said, “Each stone here emphasizes the kind of unity that we have with the SSPDF, that each nail that goes here is a nail into the coffin of the death of issues of violations against the children of South Sudan.”
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, documents that more than 1,000 children have been released by various armed groups since February 2018. It notes that the exact number of children used and recruited into armed conflict is difficult to confirm because of the unlawful nature of child recruitment.