A high-ranking military officer serving with the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, SSPDF explains what happens to children who are forcibly recruited to serve as soldiers, as his audience, consisting of 45 of his uniformed senior peers, listens attentively. Two of them are women.

“Look at this boy,” another presenter urges those in attendance. “He is very thin, he doesn’t get enough food. He is covered with wounds. His clothes are torn, and he is looking away, holding his head in his hands, missing his friends and asking himself ‘when on earth will this [war] end?’ Also, as you can see, he has no shoes.”

“It looks like he does not even have underwear,” comments a backbencher.

The affirmative answer of the man holding the floor is drowned out by lighthearted laughter. Perhaps it goes to show a need for a valve to release tensions while dealing with exceedingly heavy topics.

The men and women in green have been asked by the Child Protection Unit of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the international, Canadian-based non-governmental organization Roméo Dallaire ‘Child Soldier’ Initiative to reflect on a sensitive topic.They have come to the capital Juba from divisions based across the country.

Divided into groups, they have been engaged in an activity which the Dallaire Initiative calls “body mapping”: discussing the physical, psychological and social impacts that serving armed forces in conflict can have on boys and girls, and how these effects may differ depending on the gender of the child.

The batch of officers being trained on all matters related to children and armed conflict, including the rights of children and reporting mechanisms, is the first of many that will undergo similar sensitization workshops.

Presenting the outcome of their group efforts, the senior officers demonstrate an acute awareness of what it means to a child to carry a gun instead of a school backpack. Each group has produced poignant drawings of boys and girls, used to illustrate the heartbreaking points being made.

The aim, says Alfred Orono Orono, head of the peacekeeping mission’s Child Protection Unit, is to educate a total of 1,200 child protection focal points within the armed forces, on top of the 175 already trained. Adequate awareness and knowledge on these matters will then, according to the plan, trickle down to every single soldier in the country.

“What makes this a milestone training project is that it aims to include uniformed men and women serving all armed groups and not just government forces. The idea is to make sure that everyone is on the same page, Mr. Orono Orono says.

And it does not end there: the ultimate goal is to elaborate a comprehensive national action plan to systematically combat the six grave violations* associated with children and armed conflict in particular and human rights violations in general, in a coordinated way, and to have all armed forces on board. A number of government ministries will be involved in the drafting of such an action plan.

“It may be too optimistic, but we are hoping to have a draft national action plan by January next year,” the UNMISS head of Child Protection says.

While thousands of children remain affiliated with different armed forces, significant progress in decreasing the number has been made. Since 2015, more than 2,000 child soldiers have been released, with nearly 1,000 of them having left their respective armed groups over the last 12 months. These boys and girls are now offered schooling, vocational trainings and psychological support to facilitate their reintegration into civilian life.

Described as a role model when it comes to making his troops child-free, Major General Dau Aturjong Nyuol, currently Commander of Division 3 covering the Aweil area, is living proof that South Sudanese army units can operate with adults only. While in charge of the Bor-based Division 8, the Major General successfully screened out all the enlisted boys and girls.

“It was not easy, but I did campaigns making parents and children understand that they [children] had to be screened out, because the army is not for young boys and girls, it is for adults,” Major General Aturjong says and frankly adds:

“We need to regain our image. Our image is not good in the eyes of the international community. There are so many violations of our people, and these violations are mounting on us, the armed forces, and the government. We need to make sure to embrace peace and respect international laws and conventions on human rights.”

His female Juba-based colleague, Major General Nyankiir Atem, is a mother herself and keen on keeping children out of harm’s way.

I will tell any child who wants to join the army that this is not yet your time. It’s your time to join school and for you to learn, because you’re the future leaders of this country,” she says.

Major General Aturjong is confident that officers under his command will do what is necessary to screen out children from his current Division. He says they will do so not only because he will tell instruct them, but also because they know in their hearts that it is the right thing to do.

“Why? Because everybody wants a good life. Everybody has a child. We don’t want this [child soldiers].”

*The violations affecting children, committed by armed forces, which are known as the six grave ones are: the recruitment and use of children; killing and maiming; rape and other sexual violence, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals and the denial of access to humanitarian aid.