64% of Children in South Sudan Are Involved in Forced Labor and Related Activities

by A.Ishida | 26 October 2025 | Economics/poverty, GNV News, Sub-Saharan Africa

GNV News 2025/10/26

According to a report released on 2025/10/24 by South Sudan’s Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, and Save the Children, among children aged 5 to 17 who were surveyed about child labour in South Sudan（※1）, 64% were engaged in very hazardous forms of work. In some areas, the share rises to as high as 90%. Many children engaged in dangerous work start with light tasks and are gradually coerced into forced labour, sexual exploitation, and involvement in illegal activities. Separated from their families and exposed to the risk of illness and death, they are being driven into situations where they have to keep working.

One factor behind the spread of child labour is that many people in South Sudan are living in extreme conditions. Of a population of about 12 million, as many as 7.7 million people are suffering from severe food shortages, and 2.3 million children are malnourished. As a result, children are being forced to work in order to survive.

Reasons people are being pushed into such circumstances include political instability, armed conflict, and natural disasters. For example, the political confrontation between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar that has continued since 2013 flared up again in 2025/3, and armed clashes have occurred. In addition, conflicts driven by ethnic divisions and struggles over resources and power that exploit them have repeatedly broken out across the country. Because of such conflicts, more than 300,000 people were newly displaced between 2025/1 and 9. South Sudan, which enters the rainy season each year from August to October, has faced severe flooding since around 2019, and in 2025 an estimated about 1.4 million people have been affected. The floods destroy homes, farmland, schools, and health facilities—the foundations of people’s lives—spread various infectious diseases, and make the food crisis even more severe.