A/HRC/40/CRP.1 once again listed the SPLA, SPLA-IO (TD), SPLA-IO (RM), and the White Army as recruiting and using children in armed conflict.699 UNICEF has estimated that 19,000 children have been recruited and associated with the armed forces and armed groups since the conflict erupted in December 2013.700 The United Nations has been able to verify 513 incidents affecting 5,723 children (5,320 boys and 403 girls) since 2014 which includes 432 children in the first half of 2018.701 It has also documented a further 654 incidents affecting 7,220 children which remain unverified. Almost half of those were recruited by Government security forces. 702 Recruitment and use of children has been declining in South Sudan; however, it continues to occur. For example, the Commission received information about 1,500 children in the SPLA-IO ranks in the Wadhalelo area of Western Bahr el Ghazal in January 2018. 703 In a report on human rights violations in Western Equatoria between April and August 2018, the UNMISS Human Rights Division documented the abduction of 41 boys, 26 of whom were recruited into the SPLA-IO (RM).704 The United Nations verified 50 instances of abductions of children in the first half of 2018 and the main reason for abductions continues to be for recruitment of children into the armed forces or armed groups. 705 Likewise, since the signing of the R-ARCSS, CTSAMVM reported observing the use of children in SPLAIO units in Yambio and Bentiu706 and the Commission has received information about the use of children in NAS units in Central Equatoria.707 While many children are forcibly recruited,708 one study found that approximately only a third of the children associated with armed groups and armed forces whom they interviewed, had been forcibly recruited.709 Many other children are driven to enlist in the armed forces and armed groups for security and economic reasons, including a sense of responsibility to defend their communities from attack, to protect themselves from being attacked or killed, and to obtain food and money. Nevertheless, even where enlistment is “voluntary” it remains prohibited. The majority of children associated with the armed forces and armed groups are used in support roles including as cooks, porters, spies or bodyguards. 710 However, children are also armed, trained and used in active combat and to commit atrocities against civilians. Girls also participate in these activities but also report having to undertake domestic chores and being sexually abused. c) Demobilization, disarmament and reintegration Encouragingly, there is a growing acknowledgement and willingness to address the issue of recruitment and use of children in armed forces and groups among the leaders in South Sudan. At the end of 2017, Taban Deng Gai acknowledged the presence of children in the SPLA-IO (TD) and committed to ensuring their release. 699 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, 16 May 2018, A/72/865-S/2018/465, Annex I. 700 UNICEF, Briefing Note: Childhood under Attack, the Staggering Impact of South Sudan’s Crisis on Children, 15 December 2017. 701 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 702 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 703 Confidential Document, ERN D113892-D113900. 704 OHCHR/UNMISS, Violations and Abuses Against Civilians in Gbudue and Tambura States (Western Equatoria), April- August 2018, 18 October 2018. 705 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 706 R-JMEC, Progress Report No. 4: On the Status of Implementation of the R-ARCSS 2018, 10 December 2018; CTSAMVM, Technical Committee Meeting Minutes No. 7, 16-19 January 2019. 707 Witness 981, ERN 101980-101992. 708 See for example OHCHR/UNMISS, Violations and Abuses Against Civilians in Gbudue and Tambura States (Western Equatoria), April- August 2018, 18 October 2018. 709 Human Rights Watch, “‘We Can Die Too” Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in South Sudan”, 2015. 710 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. See also OHCHR/UNMISS, Violations and Abuses Against Civilians in Gbudue and Tambura States (Western Equatoria), April- August 2018, 18 October 2018. 100