NEW YORK: Violence against children caught in multiple and escalating conflicts reached “unprecedented levels” last year, with the highest number of violations in Gaza and the West Bank, Congo, Somalia, Nigeria and Haiti, according to a UN report.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ annual report on Children in Armed Conflict detailed “a staggering 25 percent surge in grave violations” against children under the age of 18 from 2023, when the number of such violations rose by 21 percent.
In 2024, the UN chief said children “bore the brunt of relentless hostilities and indiscriminate attacks, and were affected by the disregard for ceasefires and peace agreements and by deepening humanitarian crises.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is ‘appalled by the intensity of grave violations against children in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel,’ and ‘deeply alarmed’by the increase in violations, especially the high number of children killed by Israeli forces.
He cited warfare strategies that included attacks on children, the deployment of increasingly destructive and explosive weapons in populated areas, and “the systematic exploitation of children for combat.”
