The annual report of the United Nations refers to the child victims of wars – about a thousand child deaths have been recorded in Ukraine. And this is only official data.
How writes Euronews, The UN has confirmed the highest ever number of serious violations against children – in 2022 there were more than 27,000. The organization once again reminds: children are the first to suffer in any armed conflict.
New areas of concern are Ethiopia, Haiti, Niger and Ukraine. The largest number of violations was recorded in protracted conflicts in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The UN calls for decisive action to protect children. They are not only killed – they are deprived of their childhood, raped, recruited into soldiers. The report of the organization caused active debate in the UN Security Council. Virginia Gamba, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, says:
“1,165 children, almost all girls, were raped, gang raped, forced into marriage, sexual slavery or sexual assault. Some cases were so severe that they led to the death of the victims. The crimes committed against these children are horrific.”
Last year, the UN confirmed 3,931 cases of denied humanitarian access to children. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Programs Omar Abdi notes:
“Children suffer and die because of cruelty and indifference to their fate. Because some political leaders and participants in the conflict simply do not respect the principle of humanity during the conflict.”
In the organization’s report, the Russian Federation is included in the list of countries that have committed crimes against children. For the first time, a permanent member of the UN Security Council is mentioned in such a report. In the context of Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine, the UN recorded 2,334 serious violations against children. The UN has confirmed the killings of 613 children attributed to the Russian armed forces and associated armed groups, 80 children to the Ukrainian armed forces, 261 children to unidentified offenders, mostly as a result of air strikes.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres notes that these data do not reflect the full picture.
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