2023-07-05 18:15:32
Presenting her latest annual report, Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, called for “bold and determined action” to protect boys and girls at risk of death, recruitment, rape and other horrors.
The report covers 26 situations in five regions of the world, which is another record.
Countries include Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ukraine, which are featured for the first time. New situations in Haiti and Niger are mentioned and details will appear in next year’s edition.
Killed, recruited, kidnapped
The UN verified that 18,890 children suffered grave wartime violations in 2022. Some 8,630 were killed or maimed; 7,622 were recruited and used in combat, and 3,985 were abducted.
Ms. Gamba said these three violations remained those verified with the highest levels, and they all increased in the past year.
“Children have been killed or injured in airstrikes, explosive weapons, live ammunition, crossfire or direct attacks. In many cases they were victims of explosive remnants of war,” she said.
Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, briefs members of the UN Security Council.
Rape and sexual slavery
In addition, 1,165 children, mostly girls, were raped, gang raped, forced into marriage or sexual slavery, or sexually assaulted. Some cases were so severe that the victims died.
The senior UN official stressed the need to never forget that these numbers represent real children whose individual stories are not being told.
She cited examples such as the case of three girls in South Sudan who were gang-raped for five days, a 14-year-old girl abducted and burned to death in Myanmar, and boys killed by an improvised explosive device at a school in Afghanistan. .
Faces behind the numbers
“That’s why we must remember that behind the numbers are the faces of child victims of gun violence around the world. We must do more to prevent and protect our children from the ravages of armed conflict,” she said.
Ms. Gamba also noted that some child victims are punished for their situation instead of receiving protection. Last year, 2,496 children were deprived of their liberty because of their real or perceived association with parties to the conflict.
“Being particularly vulnerable in the hands of the authorities, detained children were exposed to further violations of their rights, including torture and sexual violence. In some cases, they were even sentenced to death,” she said.
© UNICEF/Diego Ibarra Sanchez
A girl walks through the rubble in the courtyard of a school destroyed by bombing in Chernihiv, Ukraine (file photo).
Schools and hospitals attacked
The report further revealed verified attacks against 1,163 schools and nearly 650 hospitals in 2022, representing a 112% increase from the previous year. Half of these attacks were carried out by government forces.
She pointed out that the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes also remains a major concern, with a verified “sharp increase” of more than 60% in cases last year, by both armed forces and groups. armed.
Aid criticized
Meanwhile, humanitarians and the lifesaving aid they provide – often the ‘only hope’ for conflict-affected children and communities – are coming under increasing criticism.
The UN verified more than 3,930 incidents of denial of humanitarian access to children last year. Aid workers have also been killed, assaulted and kidnapped, while humanitarian supplies have been looted and vital property and infrastructure destroyed.
The Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Omar Abdi, also briefed the Security Council.
He recalled that the greatest number of grave violations against children have been seen in protracted conflicts, including in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel and Palestine, and Somalia.
Concern for Sudan
Although the current conflict in Sudan erupted outside the reporting period, UNICEF is also gravely concerned about its impact on the 21 million children living there.
“More than a million children have now been displaced by the fighting and the UN has received credible information, currently being verified, that hundreds of children have been killed and injured,” he said. said.
Mr. Abdi stressed the effectiveness of the UN mandate on children and armed conflict, noting that armed groups have released at least 180,000 boys and girls from their ranks over the past 23 years.
However, he said that as “the number of countries on the children and armed conflict agenda grows, so does the number of children in need of our protection and support”, calling for a greater great international support for the efforts of the United Nations.
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