Okay.
Demobilizations from 2005 to 2013 or 2014 were not successful, and that's one of the reasons that led to this current recruitment of the child soldiers on both sides: the government, and...but it mostly happened on the side of the government.
Also, when I say government, you have to understand that in South Sudan there are these rebel groups who were integrated but they still hold their commands. They never had loyalty to the minister of defence. They also recruit children because they want to increase their numbers. Now you can say that the government is a key part of the recruitment of the children because of the former rebel commanders who joined the government but never had full loyalty to the government. That's one.
There are very few girls being recruited. If they recruit them, they mostly recruit them only for sexual pleasure.
One of the things we also have in South Sudan is the demobilizations.
I did research in 2012. We had 25 children on the streets of Juba, and they always come from the states that have conflict. The government decided to send them back to their states. They came back, and every time we asked them, “What do you want to do? Why are you here?” They said they wanted to go to school. “Why do you want to go to school?” They answer that their parents have died and they live with their relatives and they cannot afford the food and the clothing and the school fees so they can go to school.
Most of them become shoe polishers on the streets of Juba. We ask them how they live on a daily basis. They say they live with their parents, and what they make from polishing shoes they will give back to their mothers to cook for their siblings.
Those are some of the stories. There is no social welfare system in South Sudan to address the needs of the children, to care for the kids.
Maybe one of the recommendations here would be a CIDA program. Maybe Canada could design a project under CIDA to pay for the school fees of those kids. We could have hostels for them that could be supervised by social workers. We could have funds for them for their school fees, for their uniforms, for their exercises. That would help to prevent them from joining the rebels because they have no options. The commander will tell them, “If you join me, I will make you an officer”. The child has no option.
Thank you.