With Child Rights Violations at Record High, Speakers Urge Course Correction in Day-Long Security Council Debate

Excerpt:  “In the wake of unprecedented violence against children in 2024, the Security Council heard today that the world is failing to protect them from the horrors of war — and that urgent action is needed to correct this course — during a day-long debate on children and armed conflict. ‘The year 2024 marked a devastating new record,’ reported Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, as the UN verified 41,370 grave violations against children — a ‘staggering’ 25 per cent increase from 2023.  … Detailing ‘the six grave violations the Security Council entrusted to my office’, she said that, in 2024, 11,967 children were killed or maimed — the highest number ‘since this mandate was established over two decades ago’.  Further, there were 7,402 cases of recruitment and use; 1,982 cases of sexual violence; 2,374 cases of attacks on schools and hospitals; thousands of children were forcibly abducted; and denied humanitarian access is now one of the greatest obstacles to protecting children in conflict zones.  ‘These atrocities against children span the globe,’ she underscored, which demonstrates the universal, indiscriminate nature of these grave violations.”