Some 12,000 children are estimated to be in the ranks of various armed groups in South Sudan
{"Image ImageDescription": "On 25 January, the hand of Simon [NAME CHANGED], 9, is wrapped around an assault rifle, two days before his release from the SSDA Cobra Faction armed group, in Jonglei State. \u00ecI\u00edm 9 years old,\u00ee he said. \u00ecI have spent one year with the Faction. I have not done any fighting with the enemy, but I practised shooting trees. When there were serious missions, they wouldn\u00edt let me join because I\u00edm too young. They said only big people go on serious missions.\u00ee\n\nOn 27 January 2015 in South Sudan, UNICEF and partners secured the release of approximately 3,000 children associated with an armed group, in one of the largest-ever such releases of children. The first group of 249 children were released today in the village of Gumuruk, Jonglei State. Releases of additional children will occur over the coming month. Recruited by the South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA) Cobra Faction, the children range in age from 11 to 17 years. Some have been fighting for up to four years, and many have never attended school. In the last year, 12,000 children, mostly boys, have been recruited and used as soldiers by armed forces and groups in South Sudan as a whole. The newly released children are being supported with basic health care, protection services and necessities such as food, water and clothing to help them prepare to return to their families. Counselling and other psychological support programmes are urgently being established. The children will soon have access to education and skills training. UNICEF is working to trace and reunify the children with their families, a daunting task in a country where more than 1 million children have either been displaced internally or have fled to neighbouring countries since fighting broke out in December 2013. Support will extend to local communities to prevent and reduce discrimination against the returning children and also to prevent possible recruitment. UNICEF estimates the costs for the release and reintegration of each child is appr", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Artist": "\u00a9 UNICEF/NYHQ2015-0119/Peru", "Image Copyright": "\u00a9 Notice: UNICEF photographs are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any medium without written permission from authorized", "Image ExifOffset": "2280", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:01:25 00:00:00", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1536", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1028"}