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South Sudan: Remarks by Jonathan Veitch, Representative, UNICEF South Sudan on the occasion of the national launch of the Children, Not Soldiers campaign (29 October 2014)

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Source: UN Mission in South Sudan
Country: South Sudan

Greetings to Ministers and protocol observed.

Greetings to all of you:

I want to especially welcome the few children I see here today sitting over in this corner here and pass a message to them.

Everyone knows that children are South Sudan’s greatest hope for the future. Every country depends on the Good Will of its young people – your Health, your Intelligence, your Generosity of Spirit. You have rights, they are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which this year celebrates its 25th year, and is the most widely ratified convention in history and which South Sudan is in the process of ratifying, as well. And these rights are enshrined in the constitutional laws of the Republic of South Sudan as well, including the right to an education, the right to play and the right to protection, among many other rights.

Today, we can be full of hope. Your government is here at the Garang Mausoleum, a shrine to your nation’s freedom and commitment to its people, to say to the world that by 2016, the national army will be child-free.

I welcome and I celebrate this renewed commitment and we stand with the Government and the SPLA as they carry out the necessary measures to make this promise a reality.

Nearly twenty years ago, the world united to condemn and take action against the use of children in armed conflict. Since then, thousands of children have been released - they were released because their governments and armed groups set out action plans and those plans were followed.
And that is why we are here today, to witness the promise and to work together, as partners, in fulfilling this commitment.

The current conflict has been devastating for children.

Prior to the 15 December 2013 crisis, we were starting to see good progress in so many areas, including in the release of children from armed forces, children going to school, children carrying on with their childhoods.

On the issue of release of children, the UN worked closely with the Government including improving policy, legal framework, training, and reintegration programming.

The SPLA’s Child Protection Unit under the leadership of the Deputy Chief of General Staff made good strides in regard to the implementation of the Revised Action Plan with goal of halting the recruitment and use of children by the SPLA – there was light at the end of very long tunnel, at the end of a very long history of war.

But the fighting over the last ten months has erased much of the progress made by the Government. And we have heard reports and we have proof, that children have been recruited both by the national army as well as by other armed groups, and the opposition.

This has to stop, and we fully commend the commitment of His Honorable Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs to stopping the recruitment, and the release of these children over the next months War and conflict is not children’s play.

Using children in conflict has a devastating impact on their lives. Some children are stuck in a tragic cycle: recruited and re-recruited while others have joined the armed forces and groups out of necessity. These young boys, and sometimes girls, see things that no child should ever see, they are forced to do things that no child should ever do.

And these children – the nation’s richest resource, essential to the well-being of their nation – are wounded not only physically, but psychologically. It does not have to be so, it must not be so. It is heartening that the government agrees that this practice must stop.

The Recommitment made by the Government in June to implement the action plan in full - and there are 18 points in the action - and their commitment to hold to account any commanders who keep children in their barracks is critically important. And the message given by the minister this morning is very important, and we will be supporting and monitoring of this recommitment.

But remember, it is not only about the recruitment and use of children, it is about the occupation of schools, it’s about attacks on health facilities, and other grave violations against children. The Government must use all its powers to stop grave violations against children in South Sudan.
The young people of the youngest nation in the world deserve no less.

I want to commend the SPLA Child Protection Unit for keeping the issue of children in armed forces on the SPLA agenda through its day to day operations at field and headquarters level.
I want to thank especially the Minster of Defense and Veteran Affairs for his strong commitment.
And let me say that UNICEF and UNMISS will continue working with the Government and will remain a key partner to the SPLA on issues related to the protection of civilians, especially the most vulnerable among them -children.

The Government can count on United Nations’ support. And the UN is ready to support the government’s efforts to make the national army child free.

Thank you very much.


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