By BANDAK LUL
"The report indicates that in 2019, the government of South Sudan put in place a policy or pattern of employing or recruiting child soldiers, which government security and law enforcement officers continued to recruit and use child soldiers, at times by force, and did not hold any members of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) or South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) criminally accountable for these unlawful acts."
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| Photo courtesy of Author's Facebook account |
In June 2020, the United States Department of State released the 20th edition of the Trafficking in Persons Report, which annually develops a ranking system that divides countries into 3 tiers based on governments’ efforts to fight human trafficking. In the Tier 3 category, countries not fully meeting or making significant efforts to meet the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000’s (TVPA) minimum standards risk restrictions and the loss of U.S. civilian aid worth tens of millions of dollars. Additionally, governments identified on the 2020 Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) list are subjected to restrictions on certain security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment, and assistance to governments in the areas International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defense Articles, and Peacekeeping Operations.
(U.S. State Department)
The United States has placed South Sudan on Tier 3
Watch List (again) and on the CSPA because it does not fully meet the minimum
standards of the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant
efforts to do so. The report indicates that in 2019, the government of South
Sudan put in place a policy or pattern of employing or recruiting child
soldiers, which government security and law enforcement officers continued to
recruit and use child soldiers, at times by force, and did not hold any members
of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) or South Sudan National
Police Service (SSNPS) criminally accountable for these unlawful acts.
Furthermore, authorities did not report investigating or prosecuting any forced
labor or sex trafficking crimes for the eighth consecutive year, since South
Sudan gained its independence in 2011. Therefore, the U.S. Department of State
ruled negligible efforts by the government of South Sudan to proactively
identify and protect trafficking victims separate from smuggling clients, continuously arresting and imprisoning child sex trafficking victims, and
continuing to indiscriminately arrest and imprisoning individuals for
prostitution violations without screening for indicators of exploitation.
(U.S. State Department)
The report stated that the government of South Sudan
and opposition-affiliated forces have recruited more than 19,000 child soldiers
since the start of the conflict in 2013, and armed groups continued to recruit
and use children during the 2020 reporting period. As of February 2020, there
were between 7,000 and 19,000 minors in combat roles within South Sudan. The
SSPDF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) failed to implement
the recommitted action plans for child soldier demobilization and
reintegration. The report further stated that children are recruited by
government forces, including SSNPS to fight and perpetrate violence against
other children and civilians; to serve as scouts, escorts, cooks, and cleaners;
or to carry heavy loads while on the move.
© UNICEF/UN0202141/Rich
The U.S. Department of State has prioritized
recommendations for South Sudan, urging cessation of all recruitment and use of
children by government forces and associated militias, and immediately release
all child soldiers under the command or influence of government forces and
affiliated militias and, in partnership with international organizations,
transfer them to appropriate civilian rehabilitation and reintegration
programs.
South Sudan is among countries in the 2020 TIP
Report that are not Party to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking In Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
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Bandak Lul is a refugee advocate and human rights activist. He is a research project manager at Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research. He may be reached at blul1@asu.edu
