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SOUTH SUDAN / SPLA ACTION PLAN
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / SPLA ACTION PLAN
TRT: 1:56
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 12 MARCH 2012, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, signing of Action Plan
2. Various shots, signing of Action Plan by SPLA official
3. Close up, UN officials signing as witnesses
4. Med shot, officials watching
5. Various shots, SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy signing Action Plan
6. Wide shot, clapping at the end of signing
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Pieng Deng Kuol, Sudan People’s Liberation Army, Chief of Staff for Administration:
“We want to prove to the world that we are seriously committed to our people – to protect our children – and to control all sorts of recruitment of the child to any sort of army activities.”
8. SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy and top Unicef official looking on
8. Various shots, officials at table
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations:
“We feel that the implementation of this Action plan is crucial so that you can be delisted – and that the children in your country can be better protected. They have gone through a terrible time – the children of your country in different forms through three decades of war but we hope the future generation thanks to your commitment today will spend their time with books, and not in the barracks.”
10. Various shots, handshakes
The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army of South Sudan (SPLA) signed an agreement with the United Nations (UN) today which renewed their commitment to release all children within their ranks.
This new SPLA action plan, signed by the Ministry of Defence, UN peacekeeping in South Sudan (UNMISS), UNICEF and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy also ensures that all militias currently being incorporated into the SPLA are child-free.
Since 2005, the SPLA has been listed on the United Nations Secretary-General’s list of parties to conflict who recruit and use children. Although this action plan is a renewal of commitments made in 2009, the SPLA, as a national army, is signing for the first time.
SOUNDBITE (English) Pieng Deng Kuol, Sudan People’s Liberation Army Chief of Staff for Administration:
“We want to prove to the world that we are seriously committed to our people – to protect our children – and to control all sorts of recruitment of the child to any sort of army activities.”
Dr.Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative of UNICEF in South Sudan and Deputy SRSG Lise Grande were at hand to witness the signing.
The action plan ensures that a transparent system is in place for disciplinary action against those in command who recruit children within the SPLA.
It also improves communication among commanders to make sure that the practice of child recruitment is halted and responsibility for child protection is understood on all levels. Finally, the agreement institutionalizes child protection within the SPLA.
SOUNDBITE (English) Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations:
“We feel that the implementation of this Action plan is crucial so that you can be delisted – and that the children in your country can be better protected. They have gone through a terrible time – the children of your country in different forms through three decades of war but we hope the future generation thanks to your commitment today will spend their time with books, and not in the barracks.”
The signing ceremony took place on the first day of Coomaraswamy’s visit to South Sudan. Her mission will include field visits to Jonglei where she hopes to meet with the Lou Nuer and Murle communities to discuss child protection issues including child soldiers and child abduction, an update of activity of the Lord’s Resistance Army in South Sudan, and the status of returnees from Sudan.
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