The child soldiers of northern Bahr El Ghazal: A demobilization experience

This report provides an overview of the key issues in the recruitment, demobilization, reunification and rehabilitation of child soldiers. It also serves as a reference for information related to the children and their conditions in eight transit camps in Rumbek County in Southern Sudan. The report summarizes major patterns and collapses various stories to provide the local context around the children of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, a region of western South Sudan.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) essentially stipulates children’s right to survival, development, participation and protection. This report documents the children’s struggle for survival, stunted development due to inadequate access to basic amenities and education, limited participation in matters that affect them and increased vulnerability to physical and emotional harm. SCS hopes this report proves useful for policy makers and programme managers in Government (Task Force, SPLM in southern Sudan) and among NGOs, donors, and others in the creation and refinement of programmes to prevent recruitment of children by warring factions and to further the DRRCS Programme in southern Sudan and elsewhere.