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Sudan

In search of a good home: Southern Sudan - Separated children's study

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BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Sudan has been affected by civil war since 1954, with just ten years of peace in that time. It is estimated that two million people have lost their lives and half a million have become refugees in neighbouring countries. Sudan has the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world. Estimated at four million, they have been forced from their homes by frequent attacks on civilian targets and countless humanitarian emergencies aggravated by violent conflict. Children make up approximately 53% of the population in areas previously controlled by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement [SPLM] (1), and the situation for them could hardly be worse; Southern Sudan compares with the countries at the very bottom of indicator lists for infant and child mortality, and access to even the most basic of services. Despite the SPLM commitment to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in the Ground Rules (2) there is little realisation of these rights in Southern Sudan. Demographics have been radically skewed by the war; only 45% of the overall population of the south is male and 55% female. The number of men killed has been high, as has the number of men migrating to seek work in the formal economy. As a result women have had to take on a wide range of responsibilities that they did not have before the war. This has challenged family dynamics in a very hierarchical male dominated society.

SPLM-controlled Southern Sudan in 2003 had a population of somewhere between 6.5 and 7.5 million, but this is expected to increase to as many as 12 million within the next five years with the return of IDPs and refugees (3). Southern Sudan was largely controlled by the SPLM/A. While there were some small towns in SPLM/A held areas, most sizable towns were held by the Government of Sudan (GoS). Because of the besieged nature of these towns, they became commonly known as 'garrison towns'. Few 'urbanised' areas formerly held by the SPLM/A have any infrastructure and even the most basic services are limited. Less than 20% of children are enrolled in primary school, and only 500 girls in total finish primary school each year (4).

Little is known about the extent of family separation in Southern Sudan or how families address placing lost children into community care or how they and communities set about finding lost relatives.

Civil society in Southern Sudan is weak. Local NGOs are only just emerging as a force to be reckoned with. Until recently, Sudanese NGOs have been seen as implementers delivering basic services on behalf of international agencies. Community based programme activities, locally defined and responding to local 'social' needs have only recently begun to emerge.

The aim of this study was to better understand the phenomena of separated children in Southern Sudan by talking to a small sample of children and adults affected directly or indirectly by family separation. As such, children from different ethnic groups, of different ages and who have experienced the war differently were chosen to participate. The views of parents, carers and other community members were sought in an attempt to learn more about how communities perceive separated children and their needs, and how they do or do not support them.

This report is based on results of participatory research conducted in eight sample communities with relatively few children and adult respondents. The communities were chosen for a number of reasons including: how the war had been experienced; proximity to government controlled towns and the north; ethnic make up; and agency expectations that certain types of separation had been experienced in one place or another.

The study does not attempt to provide a statistical analysis of the phenomena of family separation in Southern Sudan. Instead it aims to produce a partial picture of local and 'national' understanding of the issues, and, from that understanding, to distil practical local and Southern Sudan wide recommendations for programming in 2005 and 2006.

The research covered only some areas controlled by the SPLM at the time. Other issues and influences may affect separated children in areas held by the GoS during the civil war, and will require further analysis and considered response. The research was limited to SPLM/A held areas of the south but informed by research that has taken place in government held areas of the country.

In recent years, much of the attention of international agencies working in child protection has centred on high profile activities with high profile groups of children, such as the demobilisation of children associated with the fighting forces and the return of abducted children and women from GoS areas. The child protection sector in Southern Sudan is currently small and under resourced, but attempts are being made to address the limitations by bringing in more agencies, developing the capacity of counterparts and addressing the protection needs of the most vulnerable children - whoever they are - through policy and practice.

As agencies in the sector have moved towards viewing the protection of vulnerable children more holistically, it has become clear that there are significant cyclical linkages between family separation, voluntary or involuntary, and vulnerability to recruitment, abduction, sexual exploitation and other horrors which characterise the lives of many young people in Southern Sudan. Concerns about the encroaching impact that HIV/AIDS will have on household structures have also led to an increased interest in separated children and children without primary care givers. The potential movement of large numbers of IDPs and refugees from the north and neighbouring countries also raises concern about children who may be left behind, or become separated prior to departure or while returning, and the impact that high numbers of returnees may have on family coping mechanisms.

The need to better understand a range of separation issues has become pressing. This includes a better understanding of who separated children in Southern Sudan are, how or why they become separated, what choices are being made about separation, what coping mechanisms children, their families, carers and communities employ and perceptions of separation.

As the research progressed, it became clear that the situations children and adults were describing were not just about separated children and the way in which separated children are treated or viewed. The researchers also gained insight into the lives of children in their own families, in other peoples' families and in the community. What emerges is a relatively bleak view of life for children and a clear disconnect between what they feel is happening to them and what adults perceive is happening in the family and in the community.

Note: The research for this study was conducted in 2005. The text makes reference to areas of Southern Sudan controlled by SPLM/A and GoS. At the time, the establishment of the Government of Southern Sudan and the transition to a single administration were not fully completed. Also, statistics and demographic information cited in the report refer largely to former SPLM/A areas.

Footnote

(1) Towards a Baseline: Best Estimates of Social Indicators for Southern Sudan, New Sudan Centre for Statistics and Evaluation (NSCSE) in association with UNICEF, 2004.

(2) In 1995 the SPLM and the SSIM (the precursor of Sudan People's Defence Force, SPDF) signed the Ground Rules Agreement. By doing so, the SPLM and SPDF bound themselves to the Convention on the Rights of Children and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 including the additional 1977 protocols.

(3) Towards a Baseline, 2004.

(4) Ibid.

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