18 June 2015 - The top UNICEF official has appealed “in the name of humanity and common decency” for an end to worsening violence against children in South Sudan.

“The violence against children in South Sudan has reached a new level of brutality,” Anthony Lake said in a statement issued on 17 June. “The details of the worsening violence are unspeakable, but we must speak of them.”

The Executive Director of the UN children’s agency said as many as 129 children from Unity State were killed during only three weeks in May.

“Survivors report that boys have been castrated and left to bleed to death,” he said. “Girls as young as eight have been gang-raped and murdered ... Children have been tied together before their attackers slit their throats … Others have been thrown into burning buildings.”

Mr. Lake said children were also being aggressively recruited into armed groups of both sides on an alarming scale. He added that an estimated 13,000 children have been forced to participate in a conflict not of their making.

“Imagine the psychological and physical effects on these children – not only of the violence inflicted on them but also the violence they are forced to inflict on others,” he said.

Speaking at the Security Council today during an open debate on children and armed conflict, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said protecting children was “a moral imperative and a legal obligation” which should never be jeopardized by national interests.

The UN Secretary-General described 2014 as one of the worst years in recent memory for children in countries affected by conflict.

Outlining grave violations against children, he said they are of great concern both in countries of origin and in countries children flee to.

“Children may cross the border to flee conflict, but that does not mean that they are safe from its effects,” said the top UN official. “They require urgent and sustained protection interventions.”

Mr. Ban, however, noted that multiplying and intensifying crises make protection more difficult. “Grave violations against children have been an affront to our common humanity in the Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic.”

Noting that the release of 1,757 children from the Cobra Faction was “a bright spot in an otherwise bleak picture in South Sudan”, he urged Member States to pursue all avenues to protect children affected by armed conflict.

“One important way is by ending impunity for the violations,” said Mr. Ban. “Children have the right to be protected in their schools, in their homes, in their communities. Let us keep the rights of children at the centre of our efforts to build a future of dignity for all.”