UN records highest number of ‘grave violations’ against children in conflicts
- More than 27,000 grave violations recorded in 2022, the highest number verified by the UN since monitoring reports began in 2005
- UN report includes Ukraine, where Russia has been put on the UN blacklist for killing boys and girls and attacking schools
Children experienced the highest number of “grave violations” in conflicts verified by the United Nations in 2022, with the conflicts between Israeli and Palestinians and in Congo and Somalia putting the most youngsters in peril, the UN children’s agency said.
Unicef also expressed particular concern about their plight in Haiti, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ukraine, where Russia has been put on the UN blacklist.
“Grave violations” include the recruitment and use of children by combatants, killings and injuries, sexual violence, abductions, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
Omar Abdi, Unicef’s deputy executive director, told the UN Security Council the more than 27,000 grave violations, up from 24,000 the previous year, are the highest number verified by the UN since its monitoring reports began in 2005. The number of conflict situations “of concern” was also the highest – at 26.
Since the report, Abdi said, a serious conflict has erupted in Sudan where over 1 million children have been displaced by violent conflict and the UN has received reports that hundreds have been killed and injured.
He also said Unicef expects an increase in Palestinian children affected due to recent escalations in violence.