Sudanese army, militias, rebel movements recruit children: report

According to the annual report of the US State Department on human trafficking worldwide, children in Darfur have been forcibly recruited as soldiers. The report revealed that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the security forces, the Central Reserve Police (known as Abu Tira), and the government-backed militias, as well as the armed opposition movements such as the Liberation and Justice Movement  and the Justice and Equality movement recruited children, at times through abductions, and used them as soldiers. “The SAF, for instance, reportedly recruited children, as young as 13 years old from the Sakaly camp for internally displaced persons in Nyala.” The report also reported that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North forcibly recruited and used children as soldiers in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile State. The report also criticises the Sudanese government for not fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. It also does not make significant efforts to do so. On 5 December Radio Dabanga reported about the study The Human Trafficking Cycle: Sinai and Beyond, compiled by European researchers, published the day before. This report, while referring to human trafficking in East Sudan, often with the purpose to ask for a ransom, ascertained “a close collaboration between Eritrean traffickers and Sudanese security, military and police officials”. File photo: A Sudanese child soldier shows his weapon (Arcadia Foundation) Related:Relatives appeal for Darfuri youths recruited to fight in South Kordofan to return home (18 December 2013)Darfur rebel movement bans use of child soldiers in its ranks (18 December 2013)Sudan training young Darfuris to fight in South Kordofan: recruit (9 December 2013) ‘Sudan’s top officials cooperate in human trafficking’: report (5 December 2013)