After Release: The Life of South Sudanese Child Soldiers

South Sudan may be the youngest country in the world, but it’s internal conflict seems endless. It has claimed almost half a million lives, and irrevocably shaping their government and politics. These internal battles are bloody and all-consuming, yet no one suffers more than South Sudanese children. There are nineteen thousand soldiers in South Sudanese militias who have had their childhood robbed from them and have been hurt in ways that will affect them forever.



These children are kidnapped when they are as young as ten. These armies threaten them or coerce children into joining the military, and nowhere is safe (HRW). Excitingly though, children are currently being released (Austin). However, when they are released, there is very little support. Most critically, the UNICEF reintroduction program is heavily underfunded (Mednick). This is dangerous because these children are heavily affected by their time in the army, and without help, they can remain hurt for long periods of time. These effects can be organized into two categories: physical and emotional.




At the army camps, child soldiers are physically tortured and put in very grueling conditions. Most child soldiers don’t consistently don’t have food or water (HRW). Another type of abuse girls go through is sexual labor, doing favors for the men of the camp (Austin).One awful instance is Duop, who shifted between the army and the rebels multiple times before he was sixteen and was constantly tortured. He was punched, whipped, kicked, and stomped, beaten so badly he lost the ability to speak or hear and much of his cognitive function (Gettleman).



The child soldiers also go through emotional trauma. They also have very little support while reintegrating, leading to long-term emotional issues that affect them, their families, and their community. UNICEF is only able to provide around fifteen to twenty minutes of therapy per child total (Mednick). Due to this lack of support, many child soldiers often return to the army, because they don’t understand the outside world, but they understand military life. Beyond that, they can often revert to violent tendencies, destabilizing their communities through the continuation of violence (Gomes). Child soldiers spend the majority of their adolescence as militants, so violence is ingrained in their nature, so they often return to their impulses, and attack other citizens. One boy attacked other kids and even his mother. Further, they often stalk houses to ambush them or steal from them (Mednick). Duop was also heavily emotionally impacted, smiling and grimacing in odd situations. Due to his physical suffering over time, he has been through a great deal psychologically, hearing voices, causing him to enact odd habits, such as putting rocks in his ears (Gettleman).



There are two ways that journalists and nonprofits say might help the issue. First is providing legal ramifications for those who are involved with child soldiers because while it is illegal, no one has been charged with legal damages (Austin). Second, increasing the funding for the UNICEF project to help reintegration, because as of now, there is not nearly enough resources for these children (Gomes).



Child soldiers are a massive population in South Sudan and due to that, many more generations will be affected by their existence, since they destabilize communities, and return to the military time and time again. Even if child soldiers stop, they must be supported so as to not perpetuate their own suffering. Due to this, South Sudan must prioritize its child soldiers and help them.






WORKS CITED



Austin, Rod. “Rise in Children Forced to Join Militias Raises Fresh Fears over South Sudan.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Sept. 2019, www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/18/rise-in-recruitment-of-child-soldiers-raises-fresh-fears-over-south-sudan.



Gettleman, Jeffrey. “A Child Soldier Sees His Mother After 6 Years. But Why Doesn't He Speak?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/africa/child-soldier-south-sudan.html.



Gomes, Robin. “Critical Support for Former Child Soldiers in South Sudan Could End.” Vatican News, 12 Feb. 2020, www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2020-02/south-sudan-child-soldiers-fund-reintegration-unicef.html.



Mednick, Sam. “South Sudan's Former Child Soldiers Struggle to Move On.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 23 Oct. 2019, https://apnews.com/c5092f293f88464e9f7c1c68b16d196d



“South Sudan: Terrifying Lives of Child Soldiers.” Human Rights Watch, 4 May 2016, www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/14/south-sudan-terrifying-lives-child-soldiers.