A former child soldier holds a gun as they participate in a child soldiers' release ceremony, outside Yambio, South Sudan, August 7, 2018 | Credit | Andreea Campeanu/Reuters

The UN Children’s Agency has called upon armed groups which may still have children in their ranks to release them unconditionally.

In 2019, UNICEF said there were about 19,000 children associated with the armed groups in South Sudan.

Between 2014 and 2018, about 4,000 children were released and reunited with their families, mainly in the former Gbudue, Boma, and Unity states.

Last month, the UN children’s agency welcomed the release of 10 children who were associated with the armed forces in South Sudan.

The children included nine boys and one girl between the ages of 15 and 17, who were identified in one of the training centers of the unified forces in the capital.

According to the transitional constitution, a child is not required to serve in the army nor permitted to perform work which may be hazardous or harmful to his or her education, health or well-being.

The Bill of Rights said every child has the right to life, survival and development; and should not to be subjected to exploitative practices or abuse.

According to UNICEF’s Child Protection Section in South Sudan, no child should be subjected to any militant environment.

Mike Charley also called for the release of children in prisons, citing their vulnerability during the coronavirus pandemic.

“So, we need them to find alternative ways to make sure that the prisons are more ameliorable to holding children,” Charley said on the Dawn.

“But more importantly also, if we are talking about children in the fighting forces, we should talk to all the warring parties to release these children unconditionally.

“There should be no pre-condition for the children to be released because the more they stay in the fighting forces, the more they are exposed to this virus.”

Mr. Charly made this remarks while speaking on Eye Radio’s morning show-The Dawn, during a discussion on the “vulnerability and protection of children during the COVID-19 pandemic” – a radio show sponsored by the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative in South Sudan.

Founded by retired lieutenant-general and celebrated humanitarian Roméo Dallaire, the Child Soldiers Initiative is a global partnership committed to ending the use and recruitment of child soldiers.

Today [Tuesday – 16 June] is the International Day of the African Child. The day is celebrated every year to commemorate the June 16th, 1976 student uprising in Soweto, South Africa.

This year it is under the theme: ‘Access to a Child-Friendly Justice System in Africa’.

South Sudan’s constitution states that a child should be free from corporal punishment and cruel and inhuman treatment by any person including parents, school administrations, and other institutions.