UNICEF Chief Catherine Russell Calls for Stronger Child Protections as Conflict Zones See Record Violations

New York — UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell delivered the following remarks at the United Nations Security Council open debate on children and armed conflict:

Excellencies,

Thank you to Colombia and Security Council President Ambassador Leonor Zalabata for convening this important debate. I also want to recognize the contributions of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, and the civil society representative.

Schools, hospitals, and water points must never become battlefields. No child should have to wonder whether entering a classroom or health facility might cost their life. Yet for millions of children living through conflict, that is precisely the reality they face daily.

The Secretary-General’s latest report on Children and Armed Conflict documents 38,558 verified grave violations against children in 2025. Behind these numbers are children killed and maimed, recruited and used by armed forces and groups, abducted, subjected to sexual violence, denied humanitarian assistance, and deprived of education, health, and protection. These alarming figures tell only part of the story, as many more violations go unreported due to insecurity, access constraints, and the challenges of documenting abuses in active war zones.

These figures demonstrate that protections for children under international law are being violated more frequently and at greater cost. For the first time, government forces and affiliated actors are responsible for more grave violations against children than non-State armed groups. This finding should alarm every Member State in this chamber. States have a responsibility to uphold legal frameworks protecting children, ensure their forces comply with international law, and investigate and prosecute those responsible for grave violations. We must act with urgency and consistency.

In my missions with UNICEF, I have met children who fled their homes due to conflict, witnessed the killing of family members, and girls who survived horrific sexual violence. Their experiences remind us that each verified violation represents a child whose safety, dignity, and future have been profoundly affected.

The report highlights several concerning trends. First, children continue to be killed and maimed at staggering levels by explosive weapons in populated areas. In 2025, nearly 70 percent of child casualties were caused by explosive weapons, with the highest numbers verified in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel and the State of Palestine, and Lebanon. These weapons destroy schools, hospitals, water systems, power networks, and other essential civilian infrastructure, leaving unexploded ordnance that continues to kill and maim years after hostilities end.

Parties to conflict must protect civilians and avoid using explosive weapons in populated areas. States must strengthen—not weaken—international frameworks designed to protect civilians, including children.

A second alarming trend is the growing number of children subjected to multiple grave violations. In 2025, this number increased to more than 3,100 children—meaning they experienced several terrible things, often beginning with abduction or recruitment and frequently including rape or sexual violence. For girls in particular, abduction often marks the beginning of a prolonged cycle of abuse, exploitation, and social exclusion.

These children require sustained protection, recovery, reintegration, and survivor-centered support. They also deserve accountability.

A third major concern is the alarming rise in denied humanitarian access. In 2025, the United Nations verified more than 8,000 incidents involving restrictions on humanitarian operations, attacks on humanitarian personnel and assets, and interference with assistance delivery—the highest numbers in Israel and the State of Palestine, Libya, and Ukraine. When humanitarian access is denied, children are deprived of healthcare, nutrition, education, protection services, and life-saving support.

Humanitarian workers themselves are increasingly under attack, with most killed, injured, or detained being local workers on the frontlines of crises in their own communities. Parties to conflict must facilitate safe, timely, and unimpeded humanitarian access. Member States must use their influence to safeguard principled humanitarian action and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.

The report also points to a broader challenge: the rapid evolution of warfare. The increased use of drones, autonomous systems, and AI-supported targeting raises serious concerns, especially in populated areas where children live, learn, and seek care. Beyond immediate risks, drones can cause severe psychological trauma, depriving children of any sense of safety as they attend school, play, or try to sleep.

Despite these troubling trends, there are reasons for hope. In 2025, more than 13,000 children left armed forces or groups, receiving reintegration and protection support from UNICEF and partners. Governments and non-State armed groups engaged with the United Nations, negotiated commitments, implemented preventive measures, and took steps to release children and prevent future violations.

Examples include Colombia strengthening prevention measures, Haiti launching initiatives to prevent recruitment, and Syria committing to prevent child recruitment while working with the United Nations on protection commitments. Engagement continues in Mozambique, Libya, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Yemen, South Sudan, and Sudan.

These examples demonstrate that the CAAC framework works when there is political will, sustained engagement, and proper support for humanitarians.

Allow me to conclude with six recommendations. First, Member States must use their influence to ensure all parties to conflict adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law. Political, military, and financial support must be informed by robust assessments of risks to children, with concrete measures to prevent, mitigate, and address harm. States should avoid transferring weapons when there is a clear risk they could commit or enable grave violations against children.

Second, all parties in conflict must take concrete steps to protect children, including protecting schools, students, teachers, and education personnel, ending attacks on education, refraining from military use of schools, issuing clear command orders, and ensuring accountability for violations. Parties listed in the Secretary-General’s report must engage with the United Nations to adopt and implement action plans without delay.

Third, children associated with armed forces or groups must be treated primarily as victims—released promptly and transferred to civilian child protection actors for care, family reunification, and reintegration.

Fourth, the Security Council must continue to defend and strengthen the Children and Armed Conflict agenda by preserving the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, ensuring evidence-based decisions, and maintaining a timely, fully functioning Working Group.

Fifth, Member States must safeguard humanitarian action. The rise in attacks on humanitarian personnel and denied access is appalling and requires urgent Council action.

Finally, Member States should strengthen legal and policy frameworks protecting children in armed conflict by continuing commitment to treaties like the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and supporting instruments including the Safe Schools Declaration, the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, the Paris Principles, the Vancouver Principles, and the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.

At a time when children face unprecedented levels of harm in conflict, the CAAC agenda needs strong political and financial support. Funding cuts are weakening child protection capacities just when needs are growing, reducing support for family tracing, mental health services, reintegration, survivor-centered care, and safe access to education and healthcare.

Protecting children cannot be a peripheral concern of peace and security—it must be central to it. Children do not start wars, and they are powerless to stop them. They die, they suffer, and they bear the scars of war for decades. We owe them more than that. We owe them a world where war is left to combatants, and children are free to grow, learn, and dream in peace. Is that really asking too much?

Thank you very much.

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