2.7. Children

For background information, see Section 2.6. of the EUAA Sudan report – Country Focus (April 2024). 

Sudan acceded the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict in 2005, is party to the International Labour Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and has domestic legislation prohibiting the recruitment of children under the age of 18.479 However, Sudanese criminal legislation does not provide sanctions for the use of children in hostilities by armed groups.480 The UN FFM report indicated that children have been recruited and used in hostilities, as well as killed, injured, abducted, forcibly displaced, detained alongside adults, tortured, subjected to sexual violence, and denied access to healthcare and education.481

According to a joint investigation by the Sudan Human Rights Hub (SHRH), a civil society organisation that promotes the protection of human rights in the country, and Ayin Network, based on testimonies from victims, lawyers, activists, and witnesses, as well as their own monitoring, the scale of child recruitment in the current conflict is 'massive and widespread' and takes place throughout the country.482 

Sources indicated that children are recruited by armed groups, including the SAF, the RSF, and their allied militias,483 the SPLM-N-al-Hilu, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North-Malik Agar (SPLM-N-Agar), the Sudan Alliance,484 and SAF supporters, including Islamist groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Congress Party, the Sudan Liberation Movement – Mustafa Tambour (SLM-Tambour), the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM).485 The SAF has reportedly been establishing alliances with armed militias in Northern Darfur, Khartoum, and Al Jazirah such as the SLM-MM and the JEM, which are accused of using child soldiers.486

Child soldiers in Sudan are known as jana jaish and there are no statistics about their numbers.487 According to Sudanese military intelligence officers, the number of child recruits in the RSF is estimated between 8 000 and 10 000.488 Sudan Tribune reported that, according to local organisation National Committee for War Crimes and Violations, the RSF has recruited around 6 000 children.489 Sources indicated that the use of child soldiers is not hidden by armed groups, and on the contrary, they appear in social media networks with uniforms and weapons.490

The UN FFM report indicated that factors that contributed to the recruitment of children included their desire to seek revenge, as a protection move to defend their communities and livelihoods, and as a tribal custom.491 Recruitment also takes place through coercion, threats, and kidnapping.492 According to a local source interviewed by SHRH and Ayin Network in West Darfur, the recruitment of children is also done through friends who encourage and tempt them to join the RSF with promises of wealth, luxury, and safety.493 The SAF launched a 'mobilization campaign' in December 2023 to bolster its ranks with 'volunteers', who are also called mustanfareen, many of whom are minors.494 Sources reported that the RSF is invoking Faza'a to recruit men and boys.495 The UN FFM report indicated that 'the use of children by Arab militias is deeply entrenched in the Sudanese ‘Faza'a’ (الفزع) tradition which consists of the spontaneous mobilisation of armed men to defend the community against a perceived threat, particularly prevalent in Darfur and Kordofan'.496 The UN FFM report indicated that girls under 18 years of age and women are also recruited by the SAF and are sent to training camps in River Nile and Port Sudan.497 For additional information, see section 2.2 Conscripts, draft evaders, forced recruitment to armed groups.

Sources indicated that local leaders play a significant role in child recruitment to seek protection for their communities or in exchange for money for communal or personal use.498 The UN FFM report indicated that '[t]ribal military leaders or ‘Agid’ receive instructions from mid-level administrators or ‘Omdas’ who respond to tribal leaders ‘Amirs’ orders to provide them with a specific number of combatants from a specific tribe. ‘Agid’ would then request each family of the clan to assign a number of their sons, including the ones below 18'.499  

In addition to being used in combat, recruited children are also used by armed groups in operating checkpoints, transporting ammunition, conduct of rudimentary reconnaissance and surveillance activities, and performing labour in military camps.500 The RSF reportedly use children as human shields,501 bodyguards, informers, combatants, to conduct security patrols, man checkpoints, carry out searches, monitor arrestees, pillage, commit arson, commit acts of torture in detention centres, and record scenes of crimes and post them on social media.502

According to SHRH and Ayin Network, child recruitment into the RSF dates before April 2023, whereas for the SAF it became more prevalent after the onset of the current conflict.503 Child recruitment takes place mostly in Darfur and the Eastern and Northern states of the country (Northern State, River Nile, Kassala, Gedaref, Sennar, and West Kordofan).504 The UN FFM report indicated that, according to local sources, minors have been identified in the ranks of the RSF and its allied militias in El Geneina, Ardamata (West Darfur) and other localities along the border with Chad, Zalingei, Nyala, Wad Madani, Khartoum, and El Fasher.505

According to a local source interviewed by SHRH in March 2024, SAF 'volunteers', many of whom are between 15 and 16 years of age, are paid around 1 000 USD and are given a gun.506 According to testimonies received by SHRH and Ayin Network, Mayors of the RSF are paid between 200 000 and 300 000 Sudanese pounds (between 317 and 475 EUR) per recruited child.507 Another local source indicated that they are also recruited as spies and paid about 10 USD for a recognisance mission.508

The USDOS report on human trafficking stated that the government 'did not report investigating or prosecuting any officials for the recruitment or use of child soldiers' and the government ceased efforts to verify that the SAF was not recruiting children.509

The 2010 Children's Act indicates that the minimum working age is 14 years old, although 'persons under that age can work in pastoral and agricultural activities'.510 The 2024 USDOS report on trafficking in persons for Sudan indicated that '[a]lthough information on the worst forms of child labor was difficult to obtain due to the conflict, observers report child labor remains prevalent in Sudan. Criminal groups exploit Sudanese women and girls – particularly IDPs or those from rural areas – in domestic work and in sex trafficking'.511 The USDOS report also indicated that, according to local observers, child labour is 'prevalent' in Sudan.512 Save the Children similarly indicated that the conflict has forced many children into child labour.513

Additional information could not be found among the sources consulted by EUAA within the time constraints of this report.

The 2014 Anti-Human Trafficking Law criminalises sex and labour trafficking with a penalty between three- and ten-years' imprisonment for offenses involving adult male victims, and between five- and 20-years' imprisonment for offenses involving adult female and child victims.514

The US Department of State indicated that anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts declined after the onset of hostilities on 15 April 2023, and that the government has not reported 'any trafficking investigations, prosecutions, or convictions' since then.515 Law enforcement was 'inadequate or entirely absent' from some areas.516 There is no law dedicated exclusively to human smuggling, which makes it difficult to separate from human trafficking and prosecute.517 According to the USDOS report on human trafficking, 'corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns'.518  For further information, see section 1.3 Rule of law and administration of justice.

The USDOS report provided the following profile of trafficked children:

For additional information, see section 2.6(d) Trafficking in human beings.