The situation of children in war-torn South Sudan has worsened since the beginning of the year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.

The UN children’s agency noted cited sustained recruitment, primarily of boys but also girls, by armed forces and groups, amid severe malnutrition and flight.

It is estimated overall that 16,000 children have been forcibly recruited since conflict broke out in December 2013, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac said, while addressing a regular bi-weekly news briefing in Geneva.

Mr. Boulierac added that killings, abductions and sexual abuse of children have continued throughout the country.

He stressed that despite the signing of the peace agreement in August, the situation remains grave with over a quarter of million children under the age of five suffering from severe acute malnutrition, double the rate of two years ago.

According to UNICEF, nearly 1,500 children have been killed, around 900,000 have been internally displaced and 650,000 have fled to neighbouring countries.

UNICEF reiterated the call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and for all sides to uphold their commitment to the Peace Agreement, including the release of children associated with armed groups or forces. 

The UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War, Ishmael Beah, who travelled to South Sudan with UNICEF last week to meet with former child soldiers, along with different parties to the conflict, to advocate for the release of child soldiers and their re-integration into their communities and families, also addressed the briefing by phone from Juba.

He said the only reason children joined armed groups was because it was the only choice they had left to protect themselves, to have access to basic necessities and for many, war was the only way to even live.

“War and violence cannot build nations,” said Mr. Beah, now a best-selling author who was forcibly recruited into the conflict in Sierra Leone at age 13 and removed from the army after two years, with UNICEF’s help and placed in a rehabilitation home in Freetown.

He added that some of the armed groups’ commanders had expressed interest in continuing to release children and hoped other factions would follow.

This was a crucial moment for the international community to support programmes on the ground to create opportunities for young people, to engage them and ensure that development of the country was not interrupted by their recruitment by armed groups and factions, he said.

Emphasizing that children did not want to stay with armed groups, but rather they wanted out and wanted livelihoods and education, he however noted that many children associated with armed groups did not have families and still needed community structures to support them, but this was currently not in place.