The abuses of children living in armed conflicts over the past year have been as serious as they have been numerous, the UN Security Council has warned.
This is what the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, said in an open debate on the subject.
The United Nations has identified nearly 24,000 serious violations with more than 19,000 child victims during that period, he explained.
“To put it in perspective, that equates to an average of 65 serious child violations committed every day, every week, every month of the year.”
The seriousness of armed violence in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ukraine, he added, prompted the UN Secretary-General to include these situations on the children and armed conflict agenda.
Gamba discussed current trends, patterns of serious violations and existing child protection challenges.
Murder and mutilation, the recruitment and use of children by parties to armed conflict, and denial of humanitarian access are the most common crimes, he noted.
Likewise, according to the UN High Representative, girls have been subjected to a steady increase in assaults over the past year, particularly murders and mutilations, sexual violence and kidnappings.
98 percent of all survivors of rape and other forms of sexual violence are minors, Gamba said.
For her part, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, stated that the best way to protect minors in conflict situations is to promote and defend peace.
As wars spread around the world, serious violations of children continue to be committed, he lamented.
Children are increasingly being attacked and the report submitted to the Security Council paints a bleak picture, but is also trend-setting, said the Unicef executive director.
All children have the right to protection, both in times of war and peace, Russell stressed, calling it a “sacred obligation” in building a sustainable future for all.