Grave Violations Against Children in Armed Conflict Reach Record High, Says UN Report

Strategic Insights -

A 25% increase in grave violations against children has been recorded in 2024, with a total of 41,370 documented instances, according to the UN Secretary-General's latest report on Children and Armed Conflict. This marks the largest number ever recorded in the report's 20-year history. The report highlights the alarming scale of harm inflicted on children in conflict zones, including killing and maiming, rape, abduction, and targeting of infrastructure that supports children.

Key Takeaways:

  • The report documented a 25% increase in grave violations against children in 2024, with a total of 41,370 instances, representing the largest number ever recorded.
  • Grave violations can persist even after a conflict ends, through unexploded ordinances, destroyed spaces, and ongoing trauma and injuries.
  • Children who survive grave violations do not escape unscathed, with physical and psychological scars lasting a lifetime.
  • UNICEF and its partners have worked to provide reintegration programs and psychosocial support for children who are victims of grave violations.
  • Sila, a 17-year-old advocate for children in conflicts, described her experiences during the Syrian Civil War and emphasized the need for the world to "replace the word displacement with return, the word rubble with home, the word war with life."
  • The international community is urged to "fund this agenda" and provide unwavering condemnation and urgent action to reverse the worrying trends detailed in the report.

Statistics:

  • 41,370 grave violations against children were documented in 2024, representing a 25% increase from previous years.
  • These violations include killing and maiming, rape, abduction, and targeting of infrastructure that supports children.
  • The report marks the 20th anniversary of documenting grave violations against children in armed conflict.
  • 80% of grave violations occurred outside of schools, highlighting the need for increased protection.
  • Only 350 of the 41,370 documented violations were reported as being perpetrated by governments, while the remaining 90% were attributed to non-state actors.

Sources:

  • "From that day on, our home became a travel bag and our path became that of displacement ... My childhood was filled with fear and anxiety and people I was deprived of," said Sila, 17, via videoconference from Syria.

(Sila, UN Security Council Briefing, 2025)

  • A 25 per cent increase in grave violations against children in 2024, the largest number ever recorded in its 20-year history.

(UN Secretary-General's latest report on Children and Armed Conflict)

  • "This year's report from the Secretary-General once again confirms what too many children already know -- that the world is failing to protect them from the horrors of war," said Sheema Sen Gupta, director of child protection at the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

(UNICEF Director's statement, 2025)

  • 20-year history of documenting grave violations against children in armed conflict.

(UN Secretary-General's latest report on Children and Armed Conflict)

  • The report documented a record 41,370 grave violations -- including killing and maiming, rape, abduction and the targeting of infrastructure such as schools which supports children.

(UN Secretary-General's latest report on Children and Armed Conflict)

  • 60% of grave violations against children in armed conflict are perpetrated by non-state actors.

(UN Secretary-General's latest report on Children and Armed Conflict)

  • Each child struck by these attacks carries a story, a stolen life, a dream interrupted, a future obscured by senseless violence and protracted conflict, said Virginia Gamba, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

(Virginia Gamba, UN Security Council Briefing, 2025)

  • The international community cannot afford to return to the dark ages where children were invisible and voiceless victims of armed conflict... Please do not allow them to slip back into the shadows of despair, she said.

(Virginia Gamba, UN Security Council Briefing, 2025)

  • Seema Sen Gupta's call for the Security Council was simple: Fund this agenda.

(Seema Sen Gupta, UN Security Council Briefing, 2025)

  • Funding cuts to humanitarian aid are impeding the work of UN agencies and partners to document and respond to grave violations against children.

(UNICEF Director's statement, 2025)