The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
A staggering average of 71 verified grave violations are committed daily against children by parties to conflict in more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. 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” that UNICEF launched today.
Speaking at a news briefing at the United Nations in Geneva, Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor on Child Protection in Emergencies, said that “between 2005 and 2020, the United Nations verified over a quarter of a million grave violations against children committed by parties to conflict in more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.” Ms. Gill concluded that “this is a staggering average of 71 grave violations against children daily”.
The report analyses 16 years of data on grave rights violations committed against children in conflict situations, from 2005 to 2020, to show the impact of armed conflict on children across the world.
UNICEF’s Ms. Gill emphasized that “between 2016 and 2020, 82 per cent of all verified child casualties occurred in only five situations: 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 grave violations.
According to Tasha 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. Every day, girls and boys living in areas under conflict experience and endure unspeakable horrors that no one should experience”.
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.
“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.
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”.
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 received positive results. Since 2000, at least 170,000 children have been released from armed forces, many having survived multiple violations, including abduction or sexual violence.
“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 belief that the international community at large can do more to protect children in conflict”, said Ms. Gill. “These numbers are staggering that I have presented today, and they are the result of an in-depth analysis of 16 years of data”.
-ends-
- Exterior shot, wide shot Palais des Nations on a sunny day
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor, Child Protection in Emergencies: “Between 2005 and 2020, the United Nations verified over a quarter of a million grave violations against children committed by parties to conflict. In more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. This is a staggering average of 71 grave violations against children daily”.
- Medium shot, journalists taking notes in the room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor, Child Protection in Emergencies: “Between 2016 and 2020, 82 per cent of all verified child casualties occurred in only five situations: Afghanistan, Israel and the State of Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia”.
- Close up, journalists listening
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor, Child Protection in Emergencies: “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. Every day, girls and boys living in areas under conflict experience and endure unspeakable horrors that no one should experience”.
- Close up, hands taking notes
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor, Child Protection in Emergencies: “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”.
- Two shot, journalists listening
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor, Child Protection in Emergencies: “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”.
- Close up, hands typing on laptop keyboard
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tasha Gill, UNICEF’s Senior Advisor, Child Protection in Emergencies: “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 belief that the international community at large can do more to protect children in conflict. These numbers are staggering that I have presented today, and they are the result of an in-depth analysis of 16 years of data”.
- Medium shot, journalists and podium with speakers
- Medium shot, spokespersons listening
- Medium shot, journalists listening with camera in forefront
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNMAS , WHO
Just how many people are still trapped in the Sudanese city of El Fasher?
That’s the burning question for relatives of the many thousands of people believed to still be there, since paramilitary fighters overran the regional capital of North Darfur last month, after a 500-day siege.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following remarks on the ongoing violence in the occupied WestBank.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At a Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today, the UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk made the following remarks on the situation in El-Fasher, Sudan.
2
1
2
Statements , Conferences , Edited News | HRC
UN Human Rights Council holds special session on Sudan as mass atrocities reported in El Fasher
The UN Human Rights Council convened an emergency session on Friday on the situation in and around El Fasher, Sudan, following reports of mass killings in the North Darfur capital. States passed a resolution that will mandate an investigation into likely mass atrocities during the capture of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 26 October.
1
1
2
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Sudan: Women’s bodies ‘a crime scene’ as tens of thousands flee El Fasher atrocities – UN Women
In war-torn Sudan, rape is being systematically used as a weapon and simply being a woman is “a strong predictor” of hunger, violence and death, the UN’s gender equality agency warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday called for an end to continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where “unchecked” settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza began more than two years ago.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
The crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to worsen amid ongoing fighting that has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and created acute hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Gaza: One million receive food parcels as humanitarians race to ‘push back hunger’
Food is slowly returning to the shelves in Gaza amid “apocalyptic scenes” but supplies are still desperately inadequate, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as they issued fresh calls for wider access and continued financial support.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today told the bi-weekly UN press briefing in Geneva of more details that are emerging on the atrocities committed in El Fasher, in Sudan during and after its takeover by the Rapid Support Forces.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO
Sudan: UN Raises Alarm Over Mass Atrocities in El Fasher as Survivors Report Executions, Killings and Rapes
More details continue to emerge about atrocities committed during and after the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan on 23 October. Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN Human Rights Office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).