Children and Armed Conflict

An Afghan girl was injured when a school in Kabul’s district 13 came under attack.
© UNICEF Afghanistan

‘Lifesaving’ protection for children in conflict must be central to pandemic recovery: UN official

23 August 2021
Peace and Security

Protection for children caught up in war must be at the heart of the international agenda, including COVID-19 response, a senior UN official said on Monday. 

Young girls gather at a camp for displaced people in Kandahar in southwestern Afghanistan.
© UNICEF Afghanistan

Report details grave violations against children in Afghanistan

16 August 2021
Peace and Security

Thousands of boys and girls have been killed or injured over the past two years in Afghanistan, according to the latest UN report on Children and Armed Conflict, which was issued on Monday, a day after the Taliban consolidated control over the country. 

Two children, who recently returned home after they and their family fled fighting in 2017, look out over the Al Gamalia neighborhood of Taiz City.
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

Grave violations against children in conflict ‘alarmingly high’, latest UN report reveals

21 June 2021
Peace and Security

More than 19,300 boys and girls affected by war last year were victims of grave violations such as recruitment or rape, and the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for experts to reach them, the UN said in its annual report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), published on Monday. 

A young girl collects water from a tanker truck in an IDP camp in northwest Syria.
© UNICEF/Khaled Akacha

Lack of clean water far deadlier than violence in war-torn countries, says UNICEF report

24 May 2021
Peace and Security

Attacks on water and sanitation facilities in conflict zones around the world are putting the lives of millions of children around the world in danger, and are a much greater threat than violence itself, warns the UN Children’s agency, UNICEF, in a report released on Tuesday.

A child solider sits on a log during a ceremony to release children from an armed group in South Sudan, in 2018. However, the risks of recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups have risen due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNICEF/Sebastian Rich

COVID fuelling risk of recruitment and use of children in conflict, UN and EU warn on International Day

12 February 2021
Peace and Security

More children could be pushed into the joining armed forces and armed groups due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, senior United Nations and European Union (EU) officials said on International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, observed on Thursday. 

Children stand outside the tent where they live in a remote desert camp in southern rural Homs, Syria.
© UNICEF/Abdulaziz Aldroubi

Gamba ‘deeply concerned’ over COVID impact on children caught in conflict

27 January 2021
Human Rights

Child rights must be considered in measures designed to contain coronavirus spread, the UN’s advocate for boys and girls caught in armed conflict said on Wednesday in an appeal to Member States. 

A settlement in Rakhine province, northern Myanmar. (file photo)
OCHA/Pierre Peron

Myanmar: ‘Shocking’ killing of children allegedly used as human shields

14 October 2020
Peace and Security

UN agencies in Myanmar have expressed ‘sadness’ and ‘shock’ over the killing of two boys, allegedly used as human shields by security forces in the country’s northern Rakhine province, earlier this month. 

15 year-old Dada and her daughter Hussaina at home in a host community shelter in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Dada was 12 years old when Boko Haram took her and an older sister.
UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson VII

Children in Nigeria and surrounding countries, continuing to endure ‘horrendous violations’

24 July 2020
Peace and Security

Girls and boys in northeast Nigeria are continuing to endure brutal abuse at the hands of Boko Haram, and are also being deeply affected by military operations taking place to counter the terrorist group, despite noteworthy efforts, according the UN chief’s latest report on children and armed conflict.

On 26 May 2020 in Juba, South Sudan, children released from armed forces are seated on the ground while negotiations for their reintegration take place.
© UNICEF/Helene Sandbu Ryeng

Children caught in conflict facing ‘brutality and fear while the world watches’

15 June 2020
Human Rights

Boys and girls used and abused in armed conflict have had their childhoods replaced by “pain, brutality and fear while the world watches”, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said on Monday.

Staff of the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Medical University.
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Guangdong Medical University

Coronavirus necessitates global increase in protective equipment, medical supplies: UN health chief

30 March 2020
Health

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for stepped-up production of medical equipment and supplies as health facilities and health workers in many countries struggle with increasing and urgent demands brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.