Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Sudan (Ratification: 2003)

Articles 3 and 7(1) of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour and penalties. Clause (a). Forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. The Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, that it does not have updated statistics on child recruitment for use in armed conflict, particularly as the war is still ongoing, but that it is making efforts to follow up on this issue. In this regard, the Committee takes note, from the report of the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) on children and armed conflict in the Sudan of June 2024 (S/2024/443), that the situation in the Sudan deteriorated markedly since April 2023 when fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

The Committee notes, from the report, that the recruitment and use of 277 children (233 boys, 44 girls) by various armed groups was verified by the UN country task force on monitoring and reporting in the Sudan, with some 95 per cent of cases of recruitment and use occurring in the Darfur States. Of that total, 68 incidents occurred in 2022 and 209 occurred in 2023, figures that show the dramatic impact of the conflict since 2023. Some 35 children were below the age of 15, while the youngest boy had been used by the Third Front Tamazuj in a support role since the age of 7. Children were used in combat roles (152), including to guard checkpoints (40), in support roles (114) and for unknown purposes (11). All children used in combat were boys and 56 were killed in combat, whereas girls were used in support roles. According to the latest annual UNSG report on children and armed conflict of June 2025 (A/79/878 – S/2025/247), some 25 boys were verified as recruited and used by the Rapid Support Forces (16) and the Sudan Liberation Army/Transitional Council (9) in 2024. The report also documents other instances of grave violations against children: the killing (752) and maiming (987) of 1,739 children (1,008 boys, 490 girls, 240 sex unknown), mostly caught in crossfires; and sexual violence against 74 children (1 boy, 73 girls) and attacks on 108 schools (26) and hospitals (82), perpetrated by various armed groups. Some 14 children (11 boys, 3 girls) were detained by the Rapid Support Forces (10) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (4) (including Sudanese Armed Forces Military Intelligence (3)), for alleged association with opposing parties.

The Committee further notes, from the 2024 UNSG report, that ongoing efforts such as the implementation of the 2021 road map, which entailed responsive and preventive elements to enhance the protection of conflict-affected children, and the 2022 national framework for the release and reintegration of children, faced challenges, and that follow-up ultimately did not materialize owing to the outbreak of the current conflict.

While acknowledging the complexity of the situation prevailing on the ground and the presence of armed conflict in the country, the Committee deplores the continuing recruitment and use of children in the armed conflict in the Sudan, all the more as it gives rise to other serious violations of children’s rights, such as murder and sexual violence, and attacks targeting schools and hospitals. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures, as a matter of urgency, to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put an end to the practice of forced recruitment of children of less than 18 years of age by armed groups in the country. The Committee also urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that children removed from armed groups are treated as victims rather than offenders. Moreover, the Committee urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that all persons, including members of the regular armed forces, who recruit children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict, are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice.

Slavery and practices similar to slavery. Abductions and the exaction of forced labour. The Committee recalls that various legal provisions in the Sudan prohibit the forced labour of children (and abductions for that purpose) and that the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking (NCCT) developed a National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, which included abduction as one of the means of trafficking in persons. The Committee notes the Government’s information that the war in the Sudan having had major repercussions, including waves of displacement and asylum, an emergency national plan was set down in response to prevent human trafficking in cooperation with different relevant authorities.

The Committee notes, however, that the 2024 UNSG report on children and armed conflict in the Sudan reveals that the country task force verified the abduction of 33 children (14 boys, 19 girls), between the ages of 9 and 17. Of these, 13 abductions occurred in 2022 and 20 occurred in 2023. Violations were attributed to unidentified perpetrators (20), the Rapid Support Forces (11), the Sudanese Armed Forces (1) and Arab militias affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (1). Children were abducted for the purposes of ransom, extortion or retaliation (9), sexual violence (5), forced labour (1), and unknown reasons (18). The length of the abductions varied, with some children being held for less than a day while others were held for over two years. In most cases, children were abducted during livelihood activities, such as farming (8) or selling water (1), or on their way to school (1), visiting the market (1) or on the way to the hospital (1). Some children were abducted close to their homes (6) or at checkpoints (3). According to the UNSG 2025 report, the abduction of 57 children (47 boys, 10 girls) by the Rapid Support Forces (56) and the Sudanese Armed Forces-aligned Joint Force of Armed Struggle Movements (1) was verified in 2024, which shows an increase in the incidence of such grave violations.

The Committee notes with deep concern the increasing incidence of abductions of children, including for such purposes as forced labour and sexual violence. The Committee therefore strongly urges the Government to take immediate measures to eradicate abductions and the exaction of forced labour from children under 18 years of age. It also once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions of offenders abducting children under 18 years for forced labour are carried out and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed in practice. It requests the Government to provide information on any activities undertaken by the NCCT to eliminate the practice of abduction of children, or on the impact of the emergency national planto prevent human trafficking, on the elimination of the practice of abductions for forced labour, and the results achieved.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Measures to prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee previously noted with concern the low enrolment rates and the high drop-out rates at the primary and secondary education levels. The Committee takes note of the Government’s information, in its report submitted under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), according to which some measures have been taken to improve the quality of education, such as initiatives by the European Union to train teachers and establish schools in the peripheral areas in the south and west of Khartoum State to reduce the drop-out rates. In addition, the Sudanese Coalition for Education for All, a national organization with support from international partners, has prepared a National Report for the Analysis of Education Budgets for the years 2017-2021 that examined the situation of education through the development of certain standards and clear strategies aimed at improving the quality of education and extracting economic indicators for education.

The Committee notes, however, that according to the 2024 UNSG report on children and armed conflict in the Sudan, at the end of 2023, over 5.9 million people, including 4 million children, were internally displaced; 1.5 million people, half of whom are children, had fled to neighbouring countries; and an estimated 19 million children were out of school, including 6.5 million children who were unable to gain access to schools owing to violence and insecurity. According to a United Nations press release of March 2024, schools across the country have either been destroyed or at least 170 campuses turned into emergency shelters for internally displaced people, thus jeopardizing children’s right to education for many years to come and exposing them to the risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Moreover, according to the latest report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan of January 2025 (A/HRC/58/29), more than 90 per cent of the country’s 17 million school-age children had no access to formal education, significantly affecting the right to education. Approximately 10,400 schools were in active conflict zones and about 3,200 schools were being used as shelters by displaced persons, making the education crisis in the Sudan one of the most severe in the world.

While noting with deep concern the significant number of children deprived of education due to the conflict and climate of insecurity prevailing in the country, the Committee wishes to recall that education plays a key role in preventing children from engaging in the worst forms of child labour, including their recruitment in armed conflict. The Committee therefore urges the Government to intensify its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system in the country and to facilitate access to free basic education for all children. It requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the effective and time-bound measures taken in this regard and to reintegrate children in education, as well as on the school enrolment, attendance and drop-out rates at primary and secondary levels.

Clause (b). Removing children from the worst forms of child labour and providing for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child soldiers. The Committee notes with regret the absence of information in the Government’s report regarding measures taken to remove children from armed conflict and rehabilitating and socially integrating them. The Committee notes, from the 2024 UNSG report on children and armed conflict in the Sudan, that steps had been taken by the country task force to release children from the armed forces and reintegrate them, but that the conflict prevented the materialization of these steps. The country task force continued to support community-based humanitarian mechanisms to provide essential protection services, including case management, family tracing and reunification of unaccompanied and separated children, after the outbreak of hostilities. Since the onset of the current conflict, however, parties to the conflict have imposed restrictions on the freedom of movement of conflict-affected populations, including children, thereby hindering their ability to seek safety and humanitarian assistance. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children from armed conflict and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information in this regard, including on the number of children who have benefited from assistance for their rehabilitation and social integration.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.