A/HRC/40/CRP.1 first half of 2018.737 However, it has been widely acknowledged that sexual violence against children, in particular against boys, is likely underreported due to fear of stigmatization and reprisals as well as the lack of adequate support services and accountability mechanisms. 738 As with killings and maiming of children, in the three case studies that the Commission reported on under this mandate, rape and sexual violence against children was involved. In Central Equatoria, in the course of the 14 May attack on Emmanuel Christian College, the young boy of 12 who was killed was also sexually assaulted.739 In southern Unity, witnesses reported girls as young as 7 to 10 years old being raped by SPLA, SPLA-IO (TD) and associated militias in the course of the offensive from April to June 2018.740 Young girls were also abducted and forcibly taken as “wives” by soldiers: this was encouraged by commanders as part of their compensation for fighting.741 Similarly, in the course of fighting in Wau triangle area from June 2018 onwards, girls were also reported to have been raped by soldiers.742 As described elsewhere in this report, the conflict accompanied by the worsening economic situation has increased the incidence of early child marriage affecting girls in South Sudan and in refugee settlements abroad.743 Despite the bleak situation in relation to sexual violence against children, one positive development in 2018 was that the Government introduced an additional layer of legal protection against sexual abuse of children. On 27 September 2018, it acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Among the provisions of the Optional Protocol, Article 3 requires each State party to ensure that the following acts are criminalized in domestic law, whether they are committed domestically or transnationally or on an individual or organized basis: (a) in the context of the sale of children, offering, delivering or accepting, by whatever means, a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation of the child; transfer of organs of the child for profit; or engagement of the child in forced labour; or improperly inducing consent, as an intermediary, for the adoption of a child in violation of applicable international legal instruments on adoption; (b) offering, obtaining, procuring or providing a child for child prostitution; (c) producing, distributing, disseminating, importing, exporting, offering, selling or possessing child pornography. Section 22 of South Sudan’s Child Act (2008) already provides that the Government shall take concrete measures to protect children from all forms of abuse and to ensure that any child who becomes the victim of abuse will be provided with appropriate treatment and rehabilitation. In this regard, it provides that the abduction or trafficking (including sale) of a child; sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment of a child; or use of a child in pornographic performances and materials are offences liable to punishment of up to 14 years imprisonment.744 Its accession to the Optional Protocol provides South Sudan with a crucially important opportunity to review its child laws to ensure the definitions of crimes are in line with its international obligations. 3. Displacement and Unaccompanied and Separated Children It is well-known that the conflict in South Sudan has resulted in extremely high levels of displacement, not seen in Africa since the Rwandan genocide.745 Displacement has 737 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 738 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 739 Witness 700, ERN 101462-101469, para. 9. 740 See, example, Witness 825, ERN 101848-101855, para. 18; Witness 828, ERN 101804-101810, para. 12; Witness 872, ERN 101603-101608, para. 8. See also UNMISS/OHCHR, Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Southern Unity April – May 2018. 741 Witness 828, ERN 101804-101810, paras. 11, 12; Witness 827, ERN 101811-101816, para. 10; Witness 839, ERN 101626101631, para. 8; Witness 872, ERN 101603-101608, para. 8. 742 Witness 913, ERN 101799-101803, para. 8. 743 See above Women and Girls in South Sudan section (Section VI(B)). 744 See also Penal Code (2008), sections 254, 258. 745 UNHCR, Aid appeals seek over US$3 billion as South Sudan set to become Africa’s largest refugee and humanitarian crisis, 1 February 2018. 103