The violence against children in South Sudan has reached a new level of brutality. UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake issued the below statement:

Please note it contains graphic descriptions which are distressing.

“The details of the worsening violence against children are unspeakable, but we must speak of them.

“As many as 129 children from Unity State were killed during only three weeks in May. Survivors report that boys have been castrated and left to bleed to death … Girls as young as 8 have been gang raped and murdered … Children have been tied together before their attackers slit their throats … Others have been thrown into burning buildings.

“Children are also being aggressively recruited into armed groups of both sides on an alarming scale – an estimated 13,000 children forced to participate in a conflict not of their making. Imagine the psychological and physical effects on these children – not only of the violence inflicted on them but also the violence they are forced to inflict on others.

“In the name of humanity and common decency this violence against the innocent must stop.”