UNICEF Briefing: Grave Violations Against Children in Armed Conflict

Escalating Crisis in Children and Armed Conflict

• 💔 The report confirms a moral failure in protecting children from war, with a 25% increase in verified grave violations against children since the agenda began.
• 📈 The real scale of harm is far higher than verified cases, with thousands killed, maimed, recruited, abducted, raped, or denied humanitarian aid.
• 🌍 These violations represent a breakdown in basic protections, impacting children's lives and leaving unhealable scars.

Disturbing Trends in Conflict Zones

• 💥 A leading cause of child casualties is the increased use of explosive weapons in populated areas, accounting for over 70% of child deaths and injuries.
• 🏚️ Destruction from these weapons impacts children's access to health, education, and safe living environments, leaving behind unexploded ordnance that poses a long-term threat.
• 📈 Verified cases of sexual violence against children surged by 35%, with an estimated child raped every 30 minutes in some regions, highlighting systemic failures and impunity.

Progress and Hope Amidst Violence

• ✅ Despite the grim reality, the children and armed conflict agenda offers hope, with over 16,000 children exiting armed forces and receiving reintegration support.
• 🤝 Progress has been made through action plans, handover protocols, and accountability measures in countries like Syria, CAR, Colombia, DRC, Haiti, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, and the Philippines.
• 🌍 These examples demonstrate that political will can lead to progress, underscoring the vital role of humanitarian access and child protection actors.

UNICEF's Urgent Calls to Action

• ⚖️ Demand respect for international humanitarian law, implementation of action plans, release of children from armed ranks, and ending detention of children associated with armed groups.
• 🚫 Halt the use and proliferation of explosive weapons in populated areas and uphold treaties like the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
• 🆘 Protect and expand humanitarian space, ensuring safe and unobstructed access for aid to reach children, and support engagement with non-state armed groups.
• 💰 Secure adequate and predictable funding for monitoring, prevention, response, reintegration programs, mental health support, and specialized care for survivors of sexual violence.
• 🌍 Uphold the duty to ensure others respect international humanitarian law, with support to parties to conflict conditional on the protection of children.

Reaffirming the Mission

• 💖 UNICEF's mission, born from the rubble of war, is more urgent than ever to protect children from being collateral damage, soldiers, or bargaining chips.
• ✊ Children deserve safety, justice, and a future, and the Security Council has a unique role in making this possible, preventing grave violations from continuing unchecked.