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The images are shocking. Children with guns, almost as big as themselves.

These are the child soldiers of South Sudan, forced to give up their games and their studies to fight in the country鈥檚 bloody civil war.

Violence between government troops and rebel factions erupted in December 2013. And in those 18 months, 13,000 children have been recruited to fight by various groups.

Now the anti-slavery campaign Walk Free is urging its supporters to call on world leaders to take decisive action to help South Sudan鈥檚 child soldiers and other children living in conflicts and dangerous situations.

In partnership with A World at School, to demand the international community creates a Global Fund for Education in Emergencies to keep children safe.

The signatures will be added to the , which urges world leaders to get every child into school without fear of danger or discrimination. More than six million people have already signed #UpForSchool.

Walk Free said: 鈥淔or children in South Sudan, war and violence is a part of everyday life. With their schools frequently bombed or attacked, many are at risk of abduction or trafficking.听

鈥淐hildren abducted or trafficked in conflict areas are violently forced into slavery, either as child soldiers fighting battles they aren鈥檛 old enough to understand, or as victims of sexual slavery and forced marriage.鈥�

South Sudanese children at school Picture: UNHCR

Walk Free added: 鈥淵et for boys and girls in Yei Town there is a beacon of hope. On the site of a bombed primary school, the Kinji Primary School has opened and now provides education to 1300 children.鈥�

There are about one million children out of school in South Sudan and only 37% complete primary school.

But it鈥檚 not just there that children caught in crisis situations are at risk of being abducted, trafficked and exploited right now.

With world leaders meeting at the on July 6 and 7, A World at School has been calling for the emergency fund to be set up to allow money to be allocated quickly in times of crisis. This means children鈥檚 education can be restarted, reducing their risk of being abducted, trafficked or exploited.

More on South Sudan鈥檚 child soldiers

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In May last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said听 as soldiers. Navi Pillay, after a visit to the country, said 32 schools had been taken over by military forces and children had been killed in indiscriminate attacks.

By October 2014, the United Nations said it believed there were 11,000 child soldiers. as part of a larger, global initiative aimed at ending the recruitment and use of children by government security forces in armed conflict by the end of 2016.

In January, 鈥� the first of 3000 to be released by the听South Sudan Democratic Army Cobra Faction.

The following month another 听(pictured above) and a warning came on the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers. The United Nations children鈥檚 agency UNICEF and Leila Zerrougui, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said children are increasingly vulnerable to recruitment and use by armed groups as conflicts around the world become more brutal, intense and widespread.

Also in February, at least 89 boys 鈥� some as young as 13 鈥� were as they sat their school exams.

And in May, UNICEF said in a series of attacks 鈥� with armed children among the aggressors. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said: 鈥淭he violence against children in South Sudan has reached a new level of brutality.鈥�

Tell world leaders they must prevent the barriers that stop children from going to school 鈥� including inadequate funding for Education in Emergencies. .