NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council convened on Wednesday to address what officials described as an unprecedented surge in grave violations against children during armed conflicts around the world.
It followed the publication of a devastating annual report by the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba. It documented 41,370 grave violations during 2024, a 25 percent increase compared with the previous year, and the highest number since the UN’s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism was established in 2005.
Verified abuses of children spanned 25 countries and included killings, maiming, recruitment, abductions, sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of access to humanitarian assistance.
“This year marked a devastating new record,” Gamba told council members. “Behind these numbers are the shattered stories, dreams and futures of over 22,000 children.”
She cited a sharp increase in “compounded violations,” in which children were abducted, recruited and sexually abused, often simultaneously, in the context of deteriorating humanitarian crises.
