Special envoy urges ‘Bold, resolute’ action to protect children in armed conflict

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau

UNITED NATIONS, 6th July. UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba on Wednesday briefed the members of the Security Council and told that last year, 27,180 grave violations were committed against children caught up in war the highest number ever verified by the UN.

Ms. Gamba presented her latest annual report and appealed for “bold and resolute action” to protect boys and girls at risk of death, recruitment, rape and other horrors.

The report covered 26 situations in five regions worldwide, countries include Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ukraine, which are being featured for the first time.

New situations in Haiti and Niger are mentioned and details will appear in next year’s edition, the report said.

The report noted that the UN has verified 18,890 children suffered grave violations during wartime in 2022.

Some 8,630 were either killed or maimed; 7,622 were recruited and used in combat, and 3,985 were abducted, the report stated.

Ms. Gamba said these three violations remained the ones verified at the highest levels, and they all increased last year.

She said “Children were killed or injured in airstrikes, by explosive weapons, by live ammunition, in crossfire, or in direct attacks. In many cases, they fell victim to explosive remnants of war.”

Over 1,165 children, mainly girls, were raped, gang-raped, forced into marriage or sexual slavery, or sexually assaulted. Some cases were so severe that the victims died, the report said.

Ms. Gamba underlined the need to never forget that these numbers represent actual children whose individual stories are not told.

She cited the case of three girls in South Sudan who were gang-raped over a 5 day period, a 14-year-old girl abducted and burned alive in Myanmar, and boys killed by an improvised explosive device in a school in Afghanistan.

“This is why we must remember that behind the figures are the faces of children suffering from armed violence around the globe. We must do more to prevent and protect our children from the ravages of armed conflict,” she said.

Ms. Gamba noted that some child victims are punished for their circumstances instead of receiving protection. Last year, 2,496 children were deprived of liberty for their actual or alleged association with parties to conflict.

“Being particularly vulnerable at the hands of authorities, children under detention were exposed to further violations of their rights, including torture and sexual violence. In some cases, they were even sentenced to death,” she said.

The report revealed verified attacks on 1,163 schools and 650 hospitals in 2022 represented a 112 per cent increase than 2021.  Half of these attacks were carried out by Government forces, it added.

Ms. Gamba said the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes remains a major concern, with a verified “sharp increase” of over 60 per cent in cases last year, both by armed forces and armed groups.

The report stressed that the humanitarians and relief aid workers often the “only hope” for children and communities affected by conflict have increasingly come under fire.

UN verified over 3,930 incidents of the denial of humanitarian access to children last year.

Aid workers were killed, assaulted and abducted, while humanitarian supplies were looted, and assets and vital infrastructure destroyed, the report stated.

Deputy Executive Director of the UNICEF Omar Abdi briefed the Council called that the highest numbers of grave violations against children were verified in longstanding protracted conflicts, including in places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel and Palestine, and Somalia.

The conflict in Sudan erupted outside the reporting period, he noted.

UNICEF is gravely concerned about its impact on the 21 million children there.

Mr. Abdi said “More than one million children have now been displaced by the fighting and the UN has received credible reports, under verification, that hundreds of children have been killed and injured.”

He adamant that the UN mandate on Children and Armed Conflict is effective noted that armed groups have released at least 180,000 boys and girls from their ranks over the past 23 years.

Abdi said that “as the number of countries on the children and armed conflict agenda grows, so too does the number of children in need of our protection and support.”

He urged greater international support for UN efforts.