New York, 15 October 2018 – The level of violence and brutality endured by children in South Sudan is dismaying said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, as a new report shows that more than 9,200 children were verified by the United Nations as victims of grave violations in the close to four years covered by the report (October 2014 – June 2018).

Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict presents her annual report to the UN General Assembly.

New York – Efforts to prevent grave violations against boys and girls affected by conflict must go hand in hand with our work to protect them, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict said as she presented her annual report to the UN General Assembly.

Thursday, 27 September 2018

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, congratulates the government of South Sudan for its accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC).

South Sudan’s Ambassadors Kureng Garang and Agnes Oswaha deposited the accession instrument during a ceremony that took place on the margins of the 73rd General Assembly debates at the UN headquarters in New York.

“All of us here today agree on the importance of reintegration to help former child soldiers reclaim their lives. However, despite our efforts, we are still unable to assist everyone,” highlighted the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of Belgium, Didier Reynders, at the opening of the event: Funding the Future: Challenges and Responses to the Reintegration of Child Soldiers.

Juba, 7 September 2018: At the conclusion of a four-day visit to South Sudan, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, highlighted that grave violations against children in the country remain at unacceptably high levels, with close to 1,400 children verified as having been directly affected in 2017 and thousands more bearing the brunt of the conflict. Therefore, it is urgent to address grave violations against children in South Sudan, ensure accountability and prevent the recurrence of violations.