• Cease the unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers and demobilize children from all armed groups while providing protection and reintegration support.
• Investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, including complicit officials.
• Train law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges – including officials serving on the Gender Based Violence and Juvenile Court – on the 2008 Child Act, 2008 Penal Code, and 2018 Labor Act.
• Amend the 2008 Penal Code or pass a comprehensive anti-trafficking law to criminalize adult sex trafficking and prescribe penalties that are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with other grave crimes, such as rape.
• Adopt and implement the procedures for victim identification and referral to care.
• Train law enforcement and social workers to proactively identify trafficking victims, particularly among vulnerable populations such as women and children, children associated with armed groups, refugees, migrants, and IDPs.
• Ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.
• Allocate funding and resources for anti-trafficking efforts, including for the anti-trafficking inter-ministerial task force.
• Increase the availability of protection services for all trafficking victims, including by partnering with civil society service providers.
• Provide additional financial and staffing support to the SSPDF’s Directorate of Child Protection to facilitate efforts to identify perpetrators of unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers and refer cases to civilian courts.
• Accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

The government maintained negligible law enforcement efforts.

The 2008 Penal Code, 2008 Child Act, and 2018 Labor Act criminalized some forms of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Article 276 of the penal code criminalized buying or selling a child for the purpose of prostitution and prescribed a penalty of up to 14 years’ imprisonment and a fine, which was sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Articles 254 and 258 criminalized the procurement of a child for prostitution and the facilitation of the prostitution of a child by the child’s parent or guardian and prescribed penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine; these penalties were also sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The criminal code did not explicitly criminalize adult sex trafficking and, inconsistent with international law, the article titled “trafficking in persons” required movement across borders to establish the crime. Article 282 prohibited and prescribed a sufficiently stringent punishment of up to seven years’ imprisonment for the sale of a person across international borders. Articles 31 and 32 of the 2008 Child Act prohibited the recruitment and use of children for military or paramilitary activities and prescribed punishments of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for such crimes. The 2018 Labor Act prohibited forced labor and prescribed penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, confiscation of property, cancellation of a business license, or closure of business, or a combination thereof; these penalties were sufficiently stringent. The government, in conjunction with an international organization, convened key government officials and civil society stakeholders to draft an anti-trafficking bill that remained pending at the end of the reporting period.

The government did not report investigating any trafficking cases, compared with one case investigation during the previous reporting period. The government did not report any trafficking prosecutions or convictions for the thirteenth consecutive year. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained a significant concern, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year. The SSPDF and other security forces recruited and used child soldiers, including children younger than 15 years old, at times by force. Customary courts handled most cases due to the absence of courts outside urban centers and capacity limitations of statutory courts, further limiting accountability for suspected traffickers. The government continued to operate its specialized Gender Based Violence and Juvenile Court to expedite trials, but did not report any cases involving human trafficking. The SSPDF’s Directorate for Child Protection was responsible for investigating allegations of child soldier recruitment or use, but lacked staff and funding and did not report any investigations during the reporting period.

The lack of resources for basic law enforcement operations, understaffed police, a dearth of trained judicial officials, absence of specialized anti-trafficking units, limited coordination between law enforcement and courts, and corruption throughout the justice sector continued to impede law enforcement efforts. International partners implemented some trainings for law enforcement officials and labor inspectors in collaboration with the government. Observers reported most police and judicial officials continued to lack a basic understanding of trafficking and frequently conflated human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Government authorities did not report cooperating with any foreign governments on trafficking cases.

The government maintained inadequate protection efforts.

Officials did not report identifying any trafficking victims for the sixth consecutive year. The government did not report having formal procedures to proactively identify victims, although international partners trained immigration officers to identify potential trafficking victims at border points. The government, in collaboration with an international organization, drafted procedures to refer victims to care; the procedures remained pending approval at the end of the reporting period. The government did not report providing services to any trafficking victims. International organizations provided protection services to IDPs, refugees, and other populations, which included potential trafficking victims, without government support. The government reported maintaining three shelters for women, children, and victims of forced or child marriage, although the shelters reportedly remained inoperable. The Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Commission (DDRC) reported no child soldier demobilizations, compared with nine child soldiers demobilized during the previous reporting period.

Social stigma and fear of punitive law enforcement actions continued to discourage victims – particularly those subjected to sex trafficking – from reporting crimes to law enforcement officers. Due to inadequate screening, the government did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. The government detained and deported foreign trafficking victims, and officials did not provide foreign victims with legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they faced hardship or retribution. The government did not have a victim-witness assistance program to support victims’ participation in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes.

The government slightly increased prevention efforts.

The government convened its National Technical Task Force on Counter-Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants once during the reporting period; officials reported the committee lacked funding to hold regular meetings. For the sixth consecutive year, the task force did not approve the country’s migration policy, which it prepared intending to improve the country’s ability to manage migration flows, including improving approaches to identify potential trafficking victims. The government did not finalize its draft NAP to combat human trafficking. South Sudan was not a party to the UN TIP Protocol; however, the government reported initiating efforts to accede to the protocol. The government conducted a survey to assess officials’ familiarity with human trafficking, but trafficking awareness remained low among officials and the public, hindering the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The government did not report conducting awareness raising activities, although international organizations led several anti-trafficking trainings, in collaboration with the government.

The government took some steps to prevent government forces from the unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers and renewed the existing action plan to demobilize child soldiers currently within the armed forces. The government conducted some trainings for security forces on child protection awareness, understanding the legal framework concerning child soldiers, and techniques for reintegrating demobilized child soldiers. However, the commission responsible for overseeing demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers received no funding or resources from the government, hindering overall efforts; commission staff reportedly had not been paid in more than one year. In addition, poor command and control among SSPDF units and ongoing instability throughout the country further hindered implementation of the action plan to end the unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers. Government officials noted many SSPDF officers did not meet their annual training requirements – due to ongoing conflict, poor communication, and general lack of capacity – on increasing awareness of international standards and obligations to prevent unlawful child soldier recruitment or use. The government’s enlistment procedures required an age assessment, usually done through a dental exam, as many South Sudanese do not have access to birth registration documents. The government reported minimal efforts to enforce labor laws and regulations and ineffectual efforts to regulate labor recruiters. The government conducted some labor inspections, although inspectors were limited to formally registered work sites. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government, in collaboration with an international organization, provided some anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel, and new recruits reportedly received some training during an orientation.

Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in South Sudan, and traffickers exploit victims from South Sudan abroad. Traffickers exploit South Sudanese women and girls in sex trafficking, sexual slavery, child and forced marriage, and domestic servitude. Women and girls, including abandoned and orphaned children, are exploited in sex trafficking at brothels, hotels, and restaurants. Traffickers exploit men and boys for forced labor and forced criminality. Traffickers also coerce children to work in agriculture, begging, brick making, cattle herding, construction, domestic work, mining, shoe shining, street work such as vending, and rock breaking. Foreign victims from neighboring countries, particularly Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda, are exploited in labor and sex trafficking in South Sudan. Traffickers exploit vulnerabilities such as displacement due to conflict, flooding, droughts, or cattle raiding; poverty and cultural practices; and weak governance and corruption. Inter-ethnic abductions, as well as abductions by external criminal elements and armed groups, remain common, especially in Unity, Upper Nile, Jonglei, and Pibor states; many abducted girls are subjected to sexual slavery or forced into marriage. Experts noted widespread violence and discrimination against women and girls contributed to impunity for trafficking crimes. Media and NGOs report unscrupulous actors, including Russian officials and illicit recruiters, fraudulently recruited women ages 18-22 from Africa – including South Sudan – to South Asia, and South America for vocational training programs and subsequently placed them in military drone production sites. Media report workers at these sites are subjected to hazardous conditions, surveillance, hour and wage violations, contract switching, and worker-paid recruitment fees, all of which are indicators of human trafficking.

Child, early, and forced marriage remains a nationwide problem, with families forcing some girls into marriages as compensation for inter-ethnic killings or in exchange for cattle or money; husbands and their families may subsequently subject these girls to sex trafficking or domestic servitude. Observers report most South Sudanese girls outside the capital become child brides and many girls are vulnerable to child sex trafficking. Instances of “girl compensation,” a practice of paying the family of a crime victim with a girl from the perpetrator’s family, may lead to the girls being subjected to domestic servitude.

Violent conflict continued throughout the year, resulting in approximately 1.8 million IDPs as of November 2024 and nearly 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees living in neighboring countries as of January 2025. These groups, including orphaned and unaccompanied children, are at increased risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation within South Sudan and neighboring countries due to sometimes limited access to formal justice and support networks. A 2022 report found more than one in 20 IDPs were subjected to one or more forms of trafficking-related abuse over a five-year period. In addition, the ongoing conflict in Sudan led to greater numbers of refugees seeking safety in South Sudan; according to the South Sudanese government, more than 1.3 million people – majority refugees and South Sudanese returnees – have arrived since the onset of hostilities in April 2023. In addition to forced recruitment of adults and children into combat and support roles, non-state armed groups reportedly committed conflict-related sexual violence, including sexual slavery. Observers reported non-state armed actors coerce women and girls into forced labor, where they are also subjected to sexual assault and rape.

Government security forces, including the SSPDF, and non-state armed groups, continued to recruit and use child soldiers, at times by force. In 2023, observers reported the recruitment and use of 152 children by parties in conflict, compared with 110 children in 2022 and 101 in 2021. Security concerns and denial of humanitarian access in active conflict areas heavily constrained information gathering during the reporting period; international observers, therefore, believed actual cases of child soldier recruitment or use to be significantly higher than this figure. An international organization also estimated government and opposition-affiliated forces have recruited more than 19,000 child soldiers since the start of the conflict in 2013. Government forces use children to fight and perpetrate violence against other children and civilians and to serve as bodyguards, at checkpoints, and in other support roles. Experts note more children fight on behalf of locally organized armed groups than for formally organized groups with centralized command and control structures. Observers reported armed groups use boys for manual labor and other jobs.