There were two worrying statistics, one of them particularly startling.
- First, children living in war zones were subject to a record number of violations, including killings, rape, forced recruitment, abductions, attacks on schools, and the denial of humanitarian aid that could have helped them.
- Second, and this is the startling one: For the first time, the main perpetrators of horrors against children were governments, not armed groups. It’s startling because governments are at least supposedto adhere to international law and treaties that protect children in times of conflict.
Increasingly, though, we are seeing a clear pattern of impunity as more and more children fall victim, often deliberately, to the men with the bombs and guns. How have we arrived here? And what can be done, if anything?
It’s a yearly piece of research that verifies incidents of violations against children and this is the 30th anniversary of its first publication so it’s depressing to see that, exactly three decades in, it has catalogued a record number of crimes. Here are just four headline stats (and, remember, these are verified. There will of course be many thousands more that have not been recorded).
- 38,558 “grave violations” were committed against children in 2025.
- 24,174 children were directly affected and had their rights violated, with 3,176 subjected to multiple violations.
- A third of the victims were girls.
- Killing (6,266) and maiming (7,958) were the most verified violations, with a 34 percent increase in killing compared to 2024.
Who was responsible?
For the first time, governments. The worst offender, by some way, was the Israel military and its security forces, responsible for 12,445 violations. Next came the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 4,114 violations. The governments of Myanmar and Somalia, and armed groups in Nigeria all had more than 2,000.
Government forces from Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Russian forces inside Ukraine were also among the chief offenders.
Nations and armed groups with certain violations are added to a “blacklist” that, while it does not automatically trigger sanctions, brings pressure, gives leverage to activists and requires compliance and negotiation before delisting.
What has the reaction been?
“The scale and persistence of these violations demand more than acknowledgment – they demand resolve,” the U.N. special representative for children in armed conflict, Vanessa Frazier, said, urging states to “recognize that protecting children is not an aspiration but an obligation, and that the decisions taken today will shape the futures they may or may not live to claim.” She added: “This report is not a wake-up call, because if humanity is not awake after all that children have endured, and continue to endure, then we must acknowledge that we are choosing to look away. And that choice carries consequences measured in children’s lives.”
Rocco Blume, Head of Advocacy at War Child, said: “Many of the governments funding humanitarian responses globally are political allies of those named as perpetrators and have the leverage to act but are choosing not to. Until donor states are willing to apply real pressure to their allies, attempts to spotlight persistent perpetrators will remain a naming exercise without consequences.”
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, said: “Wars are being waged in a fundamentally different way to 30 years ago when the CAAC mandate was established. Around the world, Save the Children is watching drone strikes hit the places children gather: kindergartens, schools, hospitals, maternity wards, markets, and displacement camps. Children’s smaller bodies, developing organs, and lower harm thresholds mean they are disproportionately killed and maimed by these weapons, and the psychological toll of living under constant drone threat compound that harm for years after the attack.”
The most extraordinary reaction, though, came from Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, who began furiously shouting at UN representatives during a meeting in the body’s New York headquarters. Angered by Israel’s blacklisting in the CAAC report, as well as its blacklisting in a separate UN report on sexual violence in conflict, he rounded on Frazier, shouting: “We are a member state, and you work for the UN, and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet … you and your shameful report.”
When you mentioned international law and treaties, what did you mean?
So the thing about the CAAC report is that it grew out of the creation of the mandate of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict by the UN General Assembly in 1996. It gathers and verifies information on six “grave violations,” outlined as:
- killing and maiming children;
- recruiting or using children as soldiers;
- rape and other sexual violence against children;
- abduction of children; attacks on schools or hospitals;
- denial of humanitarian access for children.
It’s more of a pressure and compliance mechanism, rather than a court or an instrument that can lead to sanctions or criminal punishment.
There are, though, the Geneva Conventions, which are designed to protect civilians in conflict. Children receive extra protections. There is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. And, of course, there are available tools such as sanctions, arms embargoes and International Criminal Court referrals.
There are issues with enforcement, there are issues with gathering evidence, and above all else, there are issues with states refusing to cooperate. The mechanisms are there. It’s will that is missing.
Let’s give the last word to Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, who said in reference to the children of Gaza: “Children don’t start wars and they have no power to end wars, but they are the ones who suffer the most.”
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