UNICEF’s report lays out in the starkest possible terms the world’s failure to protect its children from grave violations during times of armed conflict. https://t.co/WAAqxbYjFy
During the period from 2005 to 2020, UNICEF found that more than 104,000 children were verified as killed or maimed, more than 93,000 children verified as recruited and used by parties to conflict and at least 25,700 were verified as abducted by parties to conflict.
“While we are complaining or criticizing all members of wars parties to conflict for not upholding their obligations under International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, we also believe that the international community at large can do more to protect children in conflict”, said Ms. Gill.
This is one of the key findings of a new report entitled, 25 years of children and armed conflict: Taking action to protect children in war, launched by the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, on Tuesday.
Five hotspots
“To give just some sense of the magnitude of the problem: in one decade alone – from 2010 to 2020, there was an increase of 185% of verified grave child rights violations committed against children in conflict situations,” said UNICEF’s Senior Advisor on Child Protection in Emergencies.
“Every day, girls and boys living in areas under conflict experience and endure unspeakable horrors that no one should experience”.
Since 2000, at least 170,000 children have been released from armed forces, many having survived multiple violations, including abduction or sexual violence.
‘Unspeakable horrors’
“This is a staggering average of 71 grave violations against children daily”, she told reporters.
Ms. Gill emphasized that in the time frame examined, “82 per cent of all verified child casualties occurred in only five locations”: Afghanistan, Israel and the State of Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia.
The report examines how engagement with parties to conflict – state and non-State actors alike – enables ending and preventing child rights’ violations.
She added that “it is also important to note that many children experience more than one violation, increasing their vulnerability. For example, abduction is often combined with or leads to other violations, like recruitment and use and sexual violence”.
According to Ms. Gill, “our analysis shows that despite decades of advocacy with parties to conflict and those who influence them – as well as enhanced monitoring, reporting and documenting grave rights violations – children continue to bear the brunt of war.
170,000 freed
The effort of UNICEF staff, other UN and partner organizations to collect and verify information on grave violations to better understand and respond to the needs of children, has yielded positive results.
The report analyses 16 years of data on grave rights violations committed against children in conflict situations, to show the impact of armed conflict on children across the world.
