Allegations that children are being recruited or used by armed groups aligned with the Port Sudan SAF junta have triggered renewed rights concerns, after a Sudanese monitoring body said it had obtained a document allegedly linked to a minor involved in the war.
A rights official at the Sudanese National Observatory for Human Rights said its monitoring team had secured what it described as a motorcycle driving permit issued to a child allegedly recruited within one of the armed groups supporting forces based in Port Sudan.
The official told Erem News that preliminary information suggested the child may have been used in tasks related to movement, transport or logistical support inside areas of military operations.
The observatory said that, if verified, the document would add to growing evidence that minors are being drawn into Sudan’s war, not only as fighters but also in support roles connected to military activity.
It said such practices would violate Sudanese law as well as international conventions that prohibit the recruitment or use of children in armed conflict.
The allegations come amid growing scrutiny of Islamist-linked battalions and mobilised militias fighting alongside the Port Sudan junta, many of which have been accused by critics of operating outside normal military discipline and recruiting young supporters through ideological mobilisation.
The rights official said child recruitment is among the gravest violations associated with the Sudanese conflict because of its long-term psychological, social and legal consequences for victims.
He called for independent and transparent investigations into all allegations of child recruitment or the use of minors in military and security tasks, and urged accountability for any commanders, groups or political actors found responsible.
He also called on the United Nations, UNICEF and international human rights mechanisms to expand monitoring and documentation efforts in Sudan, while ensuring protection, rehabilitation and psychological support for affected children.
International law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, prohibits the recruitment or use of children in hostilities and requires parties to conflicts to take effective measures to protect minors from exploitation.
Abdelrahim Qareen, a representative of the International Alliance for Human Rights in Geneva, said respect for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international humanitarian law and human rights law must be treated as a priority in Sudan.
He said protecting children and keeping them in education were essential steps toward breaking the cycle of violence.
Qareen also argued that the recruitment of children by forces aligned with Port Sudan was among the reasons why the Sudanese Islamic Movement should face international terrorist designation, accusing Islamist networks of deepening the war through mobilisation and indoctrination.
Political analyst Mohammed Al-Mukhtar Mohammed said the reported incident reflected the scale of disorder inside Islamist battalions and allied militias fighting with the Port Sudan authorities.
He said many members of these formations are teenagers who have been exposed to intense ideological messaging and are referred to by Islamist groups as “mujahideen.”
According to Mohammed, some of these young recruits have already taken part in battles, with casualties recorded among them, while their commanders frame their involvement as sacrifice for the Islamist war project.
He said the incident also points to tensions between junior SAF officers and mobilised Islamist units, especially after a social media campaign targeted an officer accused of assaulting the child recruit.
Mohammed said the backlash suggested that armed Islamist networks were defending the child as one of their own and resisting attempts by regular officers to impose discipline.
The allegations remain unverified by an independent international body. But rights advocates say the repeated emergence of such claims shows the urgent need for stronger monitoring mechanisms in Sudan’s conflict zones.
They warn that the use of children in war, whether in combat, logistics, intelligence or propaganda roles, threatens to create a generation of victims while deepening Sudan’s social collapse.
Rights groups say protecting children must be treated as an immediate humanitarian and legal priority, and that delays in addressing child recruitment will further entrench the consequences of Sudan’s war.
