12 March 2012 - Renewing a commitment to release all children in their ranks, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) signed an "action plan" today with the United Nations in the South Sudanese capital of Juba.

The action plan, signed by the Ministry of Defence, UNMISS, UNICEF, and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, also ensures that militias currently being incorporated into the SPLA are child-free.

Since 2005, the SPLA has been listed on the UN Secretary-General's list of parties to conflict who recruit and use children. Although this action plan is a renewal of commitments made in 2009, the SPLA is signing for the first time as a national army.

"This is an important day for South Sudan -- the world's newest country," said SRSG Coomaraswamy at the signing ceremony. "Not only does this action plan ensure the government's commitment that the SPLA will have no children within its ranks, but all armed groups who have accepted amnesty with the government must also release their children."

"For this agreement to make a real difference for children, implementation is a must," she added.

UNICEF Representative in South Sudan Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque echoed the SRSG's remarks. "This is an excellent example of the newest nation's army moving in the right direction concerning the protection and well-being of children in South Sudan. The next step is to ensure that the reintegration of these children is successful and sustainable," she said.

The action plan ensures that a transparent system is in place for disciplinary action against those in command who recruit children within the SPLA. It also improves communication among commanders to ensure that recruitment of children is halted and responsibility for their protection understood at all levels.

In addition, the agreement institutionalizes child protection within the SPLA.

"The children of South Sudan have witnessed so many horrors in this decades-old conflict and many have grown up in war," SRSG Coomaraswamy said. "I urge the government to ... make certain that, in this new country, future generations of children can spend their childhood with books and not in barracks."

The signing ceremony took place on the first day of SRSG Coomaraswamy's visit to South Sudan. Her mission will include field visits to Jonglei, where she hopes to meet with the Lou Nuer and Murle communities to discuss child protection issues, including their recruitment and abduction, Lord's Resistance Army activity in South Sudan, and returnees from Sudan.