Children rescued from abductors in Pibor. (Photo: GPAA)

At least 8 children who were abducted from Eastern Equatoria State by armed men in Greater Pibor Administrative Area have been recovered and will be returned to their families, according to local authorities.

In a social media statement on Sunday, the administrative government said the eight children were abducted from their parents and taken to captivity by local youth during an attack in the Kapoeta region early this year.

Pibor said the 8 children have now been rescued from local abductors as part of an ongoing initiative of Gola Boyoi’s government to combat child abductions in the region.

“The GPAA government will promptly reach out to the government of Eastern Equatoria to coordinate the reunion of these children with their families,” the statement said.

In April 2024, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said armed youth from Pibor attacked villages in Kapoeta East, where a “significant number of people were killed, many women and children were abducted, and hundreds of cattle stolen”.

The cross-border attack was condemned by governor Louis Lobong, who called on Pibor authorities to recover the abducted children and hold perpetrators accountable.

Since then, Pibor Information Minister Oleyo Akuer said the unresolved conflict has forced the closure of a vital trade route between the two areas – leaving Pibor without access to commercial supplies.

This has triggered dire hunger in the areas of Likwangole, Jebel Boma, Pochalla, and other areas – as the administrative government said last month that 12 people starved to death in two weeks in Likwangole alone.

The rescue of the children came a day after five children who were abducted in Nyirol County of Jonglei State on 28th July were successfully recovered by local youth.

South Sudan has no comprehensive law to combat human trafficking and there is no severe punishment provided under the current legal framework.

Although, the National Cabinet passed the UN Convention against Transnational Crimes and three protocols on Human Trafficking, Smuggling of Migrants, Manufacturing and Trafficking of Illicit Firearms in April 2024, such bill is yet to pass through parliament as it is held up at the Ministry of Justice.

The US Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses Trafficking in Persons and governmental counter-trafficking responses, has ranked South Sudan at Tier 3, the lowest in the world since 2015.

In February 2024, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said it was troubled by the increasing cases of abduction and human trafficking between Jonglei State and Pibor Administrative Area.

The Commission’s chairperson, Yasmin Sooka, said they documented rising cases of abduction and shocking tales of trafficking involving armed groups and members of the armed force.

Ms. Sooka, who had travelled to Bor and Pibor with commissioners Barney Afako and Carlos Castresana Fernández to speak to authorities and survivors of subnational violence, said although abductions and trafficking are not a new phenomenon in the former Greater Jonglei region, its impact on women and children is “deeply” troubling.

In January 2023, the UN children agency – UNICEF condemned abductions and atrocities against 65 children and women from Greater Pibor Administrative Area by armed youth from Jonglei State.

In a press statement, UNICEF indicated that there were incidents of rape, sexual violence, physical beatings and gross deprivations during the violence in Pibor.