The United Nations (UN) says it recorded an estimated “grave violations” against 19,379 children in wars or conflicts in 2020.
According to UN, the violations include forced recruitment and rape.
In its annual Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report released on Monday, June 21, 2021, UN indicated that grave violations against children in conflict remain “alarmingly high”.
The report revealed that the coronavirus pandemic was increasing children’s vulnerability to abduction, recruitment and sexual violence.
According to UN, it verified a total of 26,425 grave violations, of which 23,946 were committed in 2020 and 2,479 were committed earlier but verified only in 2020.
The report found “Escalation of conflict, armed clashes and disregard for international humanitarian law and international human rights law had a severe impact on the protection of children.”
It added that the highest numbers of grave violations were recorded in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
Over 8,400 children were killed or harmed in ongoing wars, it said, adding that nearly 7,000 others were recruited to fight, mainly in the DRC, Somalia, Syria, and Myanmar.
According to the report, verified cases of abduction and sexual violence against children increased by 90 and 70 percent, respectively, it said – with abductions often coupled with the “recruitment and use of children and sexual violence” including rape.
The report noted thatb
coronavirus pandemic “aggravated existing vulnerabilities of children, including by hampering their access to education, health and social services, limiting child protection activities and shrinking safe spaces”.
Furthermore, the report pointed out that attacks on schools and hospitals were also prevalent in 2020, including serious attacks committed against girls’ education and against health facilities and their staff.
“The wars of adults have taken away the childhood of millions of boys and girls again in 2020,” Virginia Gamba, the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s Special Representative on CAAC, explained in the report.
By Melvin Tarlue