South Sudan: Reports of forcible recruitment and military conscription by the government and armed groups (2014- December 2015)

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa

1. Overview

According to sources, there is an ongoing conflict in South Sudan between the Government of South Sudan, led by President Salva Kiir, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in opposition (SPLM/IO), led by former Vice President Riek Machar (AI 26 Aug. 2015; BBC 1 Mar. 2015). Al Jazeera explains that the conflict is a "power struggle" between Kiir and Machar, and that it is "largely broken along ethnic lines"; Kiir is part of the Dinka ethnic group, while Machar is part of the Nuer ethnic group (19 July 2014). Sources state that the civil war began in December 2013 (AP 28 Oct. 2015; Al-Araby 25 June 2015). Amnesty International (AI) indicates that

both parties to the conflict have committed violations of international humanitarian law and gross human rights abuses, including mass killings, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, abduction, and recruitment of children into their forces, burning and looting of civilian infrastructure, and obstruction of humanitarian assistance. (AI 26 Aug. 2015)

A June 2015 report by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) similarly states that both government and rebel forces have failed to adequately protect civilians caught within the conflict, and that there has been an upsurge "marked by allegations of rampant killing, rape, abduction, looting, arson, and displacement," as well as "a new brutality and intensity, including such horrific acts as the burning alive of people inside their homes" (UN 29 June 2015, 6). According to a March 2015 BBC article, approximately 1.5 million people have been displaced as a result of the conflict and 2.5 million people face food shortages (BBC 1 Mar. 2015). A November 2015 report by the UN Security Council indicates that over 2.3 million people have been displaced and 3.9 million people (34 percent of the population) are "severely food and nutrition insecure" (UN 23 Nov. 2015, 5-6).

2. Forced Recruitment

2.1 Adult Soldiers

UNICEF reports that during a militia raid in Juba and in Upper Nile State on 15 to 16 of February 2015, civilian adult males were forcibly recruited by the Shilluk militia, a militia under the control of Johnson Oloni and aligned with the government's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) forces (UN 28 Feb. 2015). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Human Rights Watch, on a visit to Malakal in January 2015, collected accounts of forced recruitment that included cases of young adults being forcibly recruited (16 Feb. 2015). The same source indicates that near the UN base in Malakal, where 20,000 people were being sheltered at the time, many witnesses "saw groups of armed and unarmed men, some in uniforms, forcibly recruit both adults and children outside the gate of the base, which is also a busy market area, in late December 2014 and January 2015" (ibid.). The same source provides an example whereby a young man said he "was picked up and thrown into a truck," along with children, and taken to the battle area of Koka, where they were given uniforms and weapons and "almost immediately told to fight" (ibid.). Cases of forced recruitment, including of children, have also been reported to UNMISS during interviews with IDPs from central and southern Unity State at the protection site in Benitiu (UN 23 Nov. 2015, para. 37). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014, indicates that there has been forced recruitment, including of children, from refugee camps in Unity and Upper Nile States (US 25 June 2015, 32). Further information about forced recruitment of adults could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

2.2 Child Soldiers

According to sources, both the Sudanese government and rebel forces forcibly recruit child soldiers (Ethical Traveler 5 Mar. 2015; Human Rights Watch 16 Feb. 2015; Enough Project 10 Oct. 2014). According to the Africa Director of Human Rights Watch, "[i]n Malakal, government forces are even taking children right outside the UN compound" (Human Rights Watch 16 Feb. 2015). Human Rights Watch, during their January 2015 visit to Malakal, documented 25 accounts of child recruitment, including both voluntary and forced recruitment, in the area (ibid.). The accounts included incidents in which 13-year-old children were "captured" by recruiters or the army when walking in the town (ibid.).

The Enough Project, a Washington D.C.-based organization whose mission is "to create real consequences for the perpetrators and facilitators of genocide and other mass atrocities" (The Enough Project n.d.), quoted a speech made by the Secretary General of the SPLM as stating that "[i]t is clearly seen that youth fuel the war, but they are also the major victims … more than 90 percent of those who are fighting and dying on the front line are youth" (Enough Project 13 Oct. 2014). Deutsche Welle (DW), a major German news publication, quotes a spokesman for UNICEF as stating that "[c]hildren in the states [that are] worst affected by the civil war, Unity, Upper Nile, and Jonglei, are at great risk" and that there are indications that "the recruitment of children is increasing" (DW 2 July 2015). According to UNICEF, there are as many as 16,000 children affiliated with armed forces in South Sudan (UN 27 Nov. 2015). The BBC quotes international aid workers as stating that a 2014 UNICEF figure of 11,000 child soldiers in South Sudan is "thought to be hugely underestimated" (BBC 27 Oct. 2014). The same source indicates that, according to UNICEF, 70 percent of the child soldiers are fighting with rebel groups (ibid.). According to Country Reports 2014, some rebel groups, such as the White Army, rely on youth as their primary fighting force (US 25 June 2015, 22).

Sources report the following specific incidents of children being forcibly recruited into armed forces:

Al Jazeera reports that in January 2014, according to one youth's account, rebel forces stormed his school in Bentiu and forcibly recruited him and 300 pupils (Al Jazeera 19 July 2014);

The BBC reports that in May 2014, rebel forced surrounded a school and forcibly recruited approximately 100 school children (BBC 27 Oct. 2014);

Sources indicate that in June 2014, the Lakes State "military caretaker governor" gave orders for the forced recruitment of child soldiers from the region (US 25 June 2015, 22; Enough Project 10 Oct. 2014);

UNICEF reports that in February 2015, "hundreds" of children were forcibly recruited in Juba and Upper Nile State by Shilluk militia, a group under Johnson Oloni that is aligned with the government's SPLA forces (UN 28 Feb. 2015);

Al-Araby, a news and current affairs website focused on the Arab world (Al-Araby n.d.), quotes the IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development [1]] as stating that in June 2015, rebel troops abducted approximately 500-1,000 children between the ages of 13 and 17 in Upper Nile State (Al-Araby 25 June 2015). The same source states that hundreds of youth were taken from house-to-house searches in the northern villages of Kodok and Wau Shilluk (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Notes

[1] the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is an intergovenmental body established in 1996 whose member states include Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Eritrea (IGAD n.d.a). The IGAD established a mediation process and monitoring and verification teams in response to the crisis in South Sudan (ibid. n.d.b).

References

Al-Araby. 25 June 2015. "Hundreds More Children Forced to Fight in South Sudan." [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

_____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

Al Jazeera. 19 July 2014. Klaas van Dijken. "The Child Soldiers of South Sudan." [Accessed 18 Dec. 2015]

Amnesty International (AI). 26 August 2015. "South Sudan: Warring Parties Must Fully Commit to Ensuring Accountability for Atrocities." [Accessed 1 Dec. 2015]

Associated Press (AP). 28 October 2015. "South Sudan Mass Killings, Forced Cannibalism, Cited by African Union Report." [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 27 October 2015. Tom Burridge. "Child Soldiers Still Being Recruited in South Sudan." [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

_____. 1 March 2015. "Many South Sudan Boys 'Kidnapped to be Child Soldiers.'" [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

Deutsche Welle (DW). 2 July 2015. Susan Houlton. "UN to Send Human Rights Monitors to South Sudan." [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

Enough Project. 10 October 2014. "Caught in the Crossfire: Child Soldiers in South Sudan Have Few Alternatives." [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

_____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

Ethical Traveler. 5 March 2015. Tucker Ballister. "South Sudan- Recruitment of Child Soldiers Still an Issue." [Accessed 1 Dec. 2015]

Human Rights Watch. 16 February 2015. South Sudan: Government Forces Recruiting Child Soldiers. [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). N.d.a. "About Us-History." [Accessed 18 Dec. 2015]

_____. N.d.b. Office of the IGAD Special Envoys for South Sudan. "Frequently Asked Questions." [Accessed 18 Dec. 2015]

United Nations (UN). 27 November 2015. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). "UNICEF Advocate Ishmael Beah Witnesses Impact of Conflict on Children in South Sudan." [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

_____. 23 November 2015. Security Council. Report of the Secretary-General on South Sudan (Covering the Period from 20 August to 9 November 2015). [Accessed 7 December 2015]

_____. 29 June 2015. United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan. Flash Human Rights Report on the Escalation of Fighting in Greater Upper Nile, April/May 2015. [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

_____. 28 February 2015. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). "Children Seized from South Sudan School Not Released Yet." [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

United States (US). 25 June 2015. Department of State. "South Sudan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 7 Dec. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: ADRA- South Sudan; Assistant professor of Geography at the University of Nipissing; Associate professor of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston; International Institute of Rural Reconstruction; Plan International South Sudan; Professor of Social Work at York University.

Internet sites, including: Africa Confidential; African Union; Africa Research Bulletin; Agence France Presse; Al Jazeera; AllAfrica.com; ecoi.net; Factiva; Freedom House; The Globe and Mail; INTERPOL; IRIN; The New York Times; Reuters; The Sudan Tribune; UN - High Commissioner for Refugees, Refworld; ; US - Central Intelligence Agency; The Washington Post.