Armed conflicts in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America between 2005 and 2020 killed or maimed more than 104,000 childrensaid today the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Children are the most affected in wars, having no guilt and no chance to protect themselves by themselves.
A Unicef report published today indicates that in the aforementioned period of fifteen years more than 266,000 “serious violations” were committed against the human rights of children in more than thirty conflict situations in different parts of the world.
In this interval, more than 25,700 child abductions, 14,200 sexual assaults and forced marriages, 93,000 cases of child recruitment by the combatant groups and 13,900 attacks on hospitals and schools, although according to Unicef the figures “are surely higher.”
An accurate record of the attacks on the integrity of children and their environment is difficult due to the difficulties of access to conflict zones and because the fear suffered by families and children discourages them from giving their testimonies.
"This report exposes as starkly as possible the failure of the world to protect its children in times of armed conflict. We must refuse to accept violations against children as an inevitable result of war"said Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell.
The document notes that the number of verified violations has been increasing since 2005, exceeding for the first time in 2014 the figure of 20,000 and reaching its peak in 2020, with 26,425 documented assaults.
Between 2016 and 2020 there was an average of 71 daily violations against children. In addition, in some cases children suffered multiple attacks such as kidnapping and sexual violence.
In that period, the vast majority of attacks on children in the report (82%) occurred in countries in situations of protracted armed conflict: Afghanistan (30%), Israel and Palestine (14%), Syria (13%), Yemen (13%) and Somalia (9%).
Attacks on minors in wars are generally committed by all parties involved in the conflicts: state forces and irregular armed groups.
In the last four years covered by the document (from 2016 to 2020), state actors – including national and international forces and coalitions – were responsible for at least 26% of all violations, while non-state actors were responsible for around 58%.
Regarding the differences by sex, the Unicef data indicate that boys are the most affected by wars (73%) because they are the ones who suffer the most from forced recruitment, as well as kidnappings and murders.
In the case of girlssexual violence is predominant.
Unicef highlights the danger of the use of wide-range weapons in populated areas, which caused 47% of all child victims in 2020, with more than 3,900 children killed and maimed.
