‘Children Are Not Expendable’, UN Officials Stress, as Security Council Speakers Sound Alarm over Record Violations, Targeting of Schools during Armed Conflict
As violations against children in armed conflict reached record levels in 2025, senior United Nations officials today warned the Security Council of “a deeply troubling shift” in which Government forces have become the main perpetrators of such abuse.
Today’s annual debate — organized by Colombia, Council President for June — sought to reaffirm the special protections afforded to children under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, amid widespread non-compliance with those frameworks.
That failure is reflected in the Secretary-General’s annual report detailing the worsening impact of war on children (document S/2026/357), presented by Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, who called for accountability.
The United Nations’ promise to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” is failing the people it was meant to protect, Ms. Frazier argued. Civilians — and far too often, children — continue to bear the brunt of conflict. In 2025, the UN verified 38,558 grave violations against children — affecting 24,174 children — the highest since the establishment of her office’s mandate 30 years ago.
The mandate for the Special Representative was created by the General Assembly in resolution A/RES/51/77, following Graça Machel’s landmark 1996 report “Impact of Armed Conflict on Children”, which warned that children were no longer merely bystanders to war, but its targets.
That warning remains “painfully relevant” today, Ms. Frazier said.
Since 1999, the Security Council has treated children and armed conflict as an issue of international peace and security, with the Special Representative seeking to end and prevent six grave violations: Child recruitment and use; killing and maiming; abductions; rape and other forms of sexual violence; attacks on schools and hospitals; and the denial of humanitarian access.
A Collapse in Our Collective Humanity: End Grave Violations against Children
The Secretary-General’s report is “an indictment of inaction”, Ms. Frasier said. The highest verified numbers of violations in 2025 were in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Myanmar and Somalia. “The protection of children is not optional,” she declared. The Council and the wider UN membership bear collective responsibility to uphold international humanitarian law.
She also described the report as a call to use the tools already available to protect children. The way forward requires action: End grave violations against children and comply with international law; ensure safe, unhindered humanitarian access while protecting civilians and vital infrastructure; and ensure accountability through national or international justice systems.
Children associated with armed groups must be treated as victims, she added, stressing that well-funded, inclusive, trauma-informed reintegration is essential for recovery and lasting peace. Child protection must be integrated across all peace, security and post‑conflict processes.
Behind Every Number Is a Child
“We must act with the urgency and consistency that this reality demands,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Children continue to be killed and maimed at “staggering levels” by explosive weapons in populated areas, she stressed. The highest numbers were verified in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel, Lebanon and Palestine. These weapons destroy schools, hospitals, water systems and other civilian infrastructure essential for children’s survival and recovery.
She also pointed to an alarming rise in the denial of humanitarian access, with highest numbers of incidents verified in Israel, Palestine, Libya and Ukraine. The use of drones, autonomous and remotely operated systems and AI-supported targeting is yet another concern. “As the nature of warfare evolves, our commitment to protecting children must remain steadfast,” she declared.
Thousands of Children Leaving Armed Groups, UNICEF says
Despite those trends, the Children in Armed Conflict agenda is making make strides, Ms. Russel said. Over 13,000 children left armed groups in 2025, thanks to reintegration and protection support from UNICEF and its partners.She cited positive examples in Colombia, Haiti and Syria, among other countries.
Offering recommendations, she urged States to ensure their political, military, financial and other investments are informed by robust assessments of the risks posed to children. “States should avoid transferring weapons when there is a clear risk they could be used to commit or enable grave violations.” She cautioned against funding cuts, which “are weakening child protection capacities precisely when needs are growing”.
Rounding out the briefings, André Prospéry Raymond, Country Director for Haiti at Plan International, detailed the risks faced by children in his home country. Noting more than 2,000 grave violations against children — and the recruitment of almost 900 children by armed groups — he said: “This only accounts for one country, Haiti, in one year alone.” The data, however, do not convey the fear, pain and suffering experienced by these children.
Survivors First: Humanitarian Responses Must Reflect Children’s Needs, Education Above All
“Recovery can take years,” he acknowledged, as children forced from their homes may lose their school, friends and support networks, while those recruited by armed groups may struggle to return to family and community life. He also pointed to the lower life expectancy for children in gangs: “They won’t pass more than 30 years old.”
Girls who have experienced sexual violence may face stigma, trauma and health risks, he said. Yet, “their specific needs are often overlooked in humanitarian responses and by those in power, even though they are among those most affected”.
Protecting children in conflict means more than responding after harm has happened, he said. It means preventing violence, supporting survivors and keeping children in school. He also underlined the importance of meaningfully including those directly affected by conflict in Council deliberations, as their lived experiences “cannot be replicated through reports or second-hand accounts”.
Expressing disappointment that this could not happen today, he conveyed a message from a Haitian youth advocate: “Above all, help create the conditions for children to live in safety. Because, without safety, children cannot learn. Without education, they cannot reach their full potential. And without hope, an entire generation is in danger of being left behind.”
The report’s annex “blacklists” Government forces from several Member States — including the Russian Federation armed forces and Israeli armed and security forces — prompting contentious exchanges during today’s daylong meeting, which featured nearly 100 speakers. Several delegates also expressed regret over the report’s omission of violations in certain situations.
‘Red Card’ to Russian Federation; Moscow Rejects Allegations
“Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian children are so shocking that they send a chill down the spine,” stressed Ukraine’s representative. Worse, he pointed out that Moscow has not taken “a single meaningful corrective step” despite the blacklisting of its armed forces for the fourth consecutive year. “They share the special ‘distinction’ of barbarism with such gangs of murderers as Al-Qaida, Hamas, Da’esh or the Taliban,” he emphasized, adding: “What a disgrace.” Council members must do more than simply condemn this behaviour, and he urged: “It is time to show Russia a ‘red card’ and ostracize it as a pariah State that does not deserve to sit at this table.”
“Everyone in this room” knows that the allegations about the deportation of Ukrainian children are lies, said the representative of the Russian Federation. “The UN Secretary-General’s report would not tell you that Russian children are falling victims to Ukrainian attacks on an almost daily basis,” she added. The Ukrainian armed forces carry out attacks on schools and hospitals on a systematic basis, she said, describing a strike on the dormitory of a college in Starobilsk, which killed children and young people preparing to become teachers. “We have not heard a word of condemnation from the United Nations” regarding this, she said.
Clash over Alleged Violations in Occupied Palestinian Territory
“The Secretary-General’s report on children in armed conflict reflects a horrific reality,” said an observer of the State of Palestine, noting “tens of thousands of Palestinian children have been killed and injured”. Despite the stated ceasefire, the killing continues, with daily violations by Israeli forces. “I am stunned [that] Israel can deny these crimes when its soldiers confirm them, when its leaders call for their perpetration, and when videos were filmed by the victims and even by the perpetrators,” he said. Israel also denies the sexual violence that led to its listing, for the first time, in that category of offenses in the Secretary-General’s report.
The representative of Israel said that the Special Representative is proof of “the failure that has taken hold of the UN”. Holding up several “exhibits” of various social media posts, he said that Ms. Frazier is engaging with antisemites. The Secretary-General’s report accuses Israeli security forces of using Palestinian children as human shields, he said, adding that this turns “reality on its head” because it is Hamas that builds tunnels beneath homes and recruits children. While hundreds of attacks on schools and hospitals are attributed to Israel, “the standards used to reach those numbers are rarely subject to the scrutiny applied elsewhere”, he said. Israel is not asking the Council to ignore allegations, but to test them, their evidence and their sources, he said.
Failure to Account for Violations against Children in Iran
Iran’s delegate said that the Secretary-General’s report failed to adequately reflect the devastating humanitarian consequences of the Israeli regime’s 12-day war of aggression against children in Iran in June 2025, noting that 47 Iranian children were martyred during the aggression. Further, he recalled how a primary school in Minab was struck twice by United States’ missiles during school hours. The attack killed 168 children between the ages of 7 and 12, as well as teachers and parents and injured more than 96 others. “These were children exercising their fundamental rights to education in a place that should have been safe,” he said.
The representative of the United States said that the Secretary-General’s latest report “mischaracterizes” civilian harm under the law of war: “The deliberate killing of children by the Houthis or other malign armed groups is a grave violation; the incidental killing of civilians by State armed forces is not.” She stressed that the report reinforces her country’s decision to disengage from Ms. Frazier’s office, and further, damages its credibility by “falsely equating the actions of US armed forces with those of Houthi terrorists”. She also said accusations made against Israel should not be made without also mentioning Hamas — a terrorist organization willing to use civilians, including children, as “human shields”.
Protection of Education Essential
The debate reaffirmed that the protection of education is an essential component of the comprehensive protection of children to enable their full development.
Jainaba Jagne, African Union Special Envoy for Children Affected by Armed Conflict, underscored that education must be protected in conflict situations, “because schools are not only places of learning — they are spaces of safety, recovery and hope for our children”.
Liberia’s delegate said that, in many African nations where resources are already scarce, online learning opportunities do not exist at scale. “Attacks on education therefore deepen existing inequities and risk leaving an entire generation behind,” he added. Refusing to let this become the continent’s permanent reality, his country has endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration.
“Childhood was the first victim of the former regime,” said Syria’s delegate, referring to the Government of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2024. Young people were detained, suffered violence and were even tortured. While the numbers of children suffering violations today is rising globally, in Syria, they are returning to school and safety. The human rights of the child are enshrined in Syria’s new Constitution, which was decreed in March 2025, he said, adding that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative visited the country earlier this year and witnessed progress first-hand.
* *** *