The Sudanese Alliance for Rights expresses deep concern over the escalating recruitment and use of children in the ongoing conflict across Al Jaziera, Sennar, Al Qadarif, and White Nile States. Evidence gathered by our monitors on the ground, along with widespread social media footage, indicates that children are being deployed by the Sudanese Armed Forces and affiliated Islamic militias, including Al Bara bin Malik Brigades, Al Jazira Shield, and Darfurian armed movement forces. These developments reflect a deeply troubling pattern of grave violations against children.
We strongly condemn the recruitment of children by all parties to the conflict. The use of children as fighters, porters, informants, or in any military role is prohibited under both international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It constitutes a grave violation under the UN-defined Six Grave Violations against Children and is recognised as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which criminalises the conscription, enlistment, or use of children under 15 in hostilities.
The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict violates several binding international and regional instruments, including:
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which sets 18 as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities and compulsory recruitment.
• The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), which explicitly prohibits the recruitment or direct participation of children under 18 in armed conflict.
• International Humanitarian Law (IHL), particularly Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II, which protect children in non-international armed conflicts.
• The Rome Statute, which allows the International Criminal Court to prosecute commanders and actors responsible for child soldier recruitment.
Violations of these instruments open pathways for accountability through international criminal processes, UN monitoring and reporting mechanisms, regional human rights bodies, and targeted sanctions regimes.
We are currently undertaking a comprehensive report documenting child recruitment by all conflicting parties in Sudan’s war. We are deeply concerned by the scale, visibility, and normalisation of this practice and are taking all necessary steps to verify, analyse, and present evidence that will support urgent protective measures and accountability.
We call on the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and UNICEF, as well as the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the African Union Peace and Security Council, and IGAD, to urgently intervene, strengthen monitoring mechanisms, and ensure accountability for all parties recruiting and using children in Sudan’s war.
SAR urges all parties to immediately cease the recruitment and use of children, release all children currently within their ranks, and allow humanitarian agencies to access affected areas safely. The protection of children must be an absolute priority, and violations against them must never be tolerated.
17 November 2025
Sudanese Alliance for Rights
