Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the children and armed conflict mandate, speakers at the Security Council highlighted the stark contrast between the comprehensive child-protection mechanisms in place and their failure to prevent the historically high levels of grave violations against children, calling for stronger action and robust resources to bridge the gap.
The mandate for the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict was created by the General Assembly in resolution A/RES/51/77 , following Graça Machel's landmark 1996 report "Impact of Armed Conflict on Children", which pointed out that children were no longer bystanders to war but its targets. Today's open debate, organized by Greece, which holds the Council presidency for the month and served as chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in 2025, is a part of its continuing effort to prioritize the agenda. It comes a week after the adoption of Council resolution 2832 (2026), a measure spearheaded by Greece, which called upon parties to armed conflict to halt the recruitment of children through digital technologies.
"For a child caught in armed conflict, the test of three decades of international commitments, including this Council's resolutions, is whether these commitments change what happens next", said Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, including "whether they can return to school, and whether anyone is held to account when they are harmed". While the mandate helped secure the release of 220,000 children from armed forces through 40 action plans signed with parties to the conflict, she cautioned that "the scale of current violations remains stark", with the UN verifying 38,558 grave violations affecting 24,174 children in 2025.
"This is the highest number of children affected since this mandate was established", she stressed, underscoring the "deeply troubling" finding that, for the first time in the mandate's history, Government forces were responsible for the majority of verified grave violations. In this context, she called on the Council to ensure verified information leads to action; to ensure existing commitments are translated into practice; to preserve Council unity and make full use of its toolkit; and to sustain prevention, protection and reintegration.
Funding for Recovery Outstripped by Military Spending: UNICEF
"Protection is not only about preventing violations" but "helping survivors recover", said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Recalling a visit to South Sudan last December, she highlighted that two survivors who had contemplated taking their own lives before receiving support at a UNICEF-supported centre "described how counselling, peer support, and simply having a safe place to turn to had become a lifeline".
However, more than one third of UNICEF-supported safe spaces for women and children in South Sudan had closed that year because of funding cuts, she said, adding: "Funding for humanitarian assistance and protection for children affected by armed conflict remains miniscule compared to global military spending."
Engage Big Tech to Address Misuse of Digital Technologies
Jainaba Jagne, African Union Special Envoy for Children Affected by Armed Conflict, warned that in African conflict settings, information technologies can amplify recruitment, exploitation and other grave violations, adding: "Member States must collectively engage big tech, telecommunications providers and other stakeholders through a business-and-human-rights approach that requires child-rights due diligence, safety by design and access to remedy." She cited commendable steps by the bloc to address these challenges, including its Model Law on Child Online Safety.
Child exploitation in extractive industries within war and survival economies also warrants greater attention, she said, noting that prevention requires scrutiny of business conduct and supply chains, along with accountability for those who exploit children.
Back up Commitments with Resources
"The Children and Armed Conflict mandate exists for a reason - and it isn't about numbers or statements", said Bethany Ellis, Director, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, a global network of civil society organizations formed in 2001, adding: "We owe them more than words. We owe them protection, accountability, a childhood without fear."
Warning that "impunity for grave violations is rampant and the political will to address these threats appears insufficient", she pointed out that "as children's protection needs continue to rise, resources to meet those needs are shrinking" due to "abrupt, severe, and continuing global funding cuts". As a result, fewer children are receiving services, and mental health and psychosocial support, reintegration programs, and case management have all faced cuts. "Impunity must become unacceptable", she stressed, underscoring the need for commitments to be backed up with resources.
"Children are recruited and exploited through smartphones", said Georgios Gerapetritis, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, Council President for October, speaking in his national capacity to welcome the unanimous adoption of Council resolution 2832 (2026), which safeguards the foundations of the Children and Armed Conflict mandate while introducing a critical new dimension: The impact of digital technologies on children. "We must also ensure that commitments are matched by adequate and predictable resources, so that monitoring, reporting and child protection capacities are maintained, particularly in the field", he added.
The Russian Federation's war of aggression in Ukraine "continues to steal childhoods", said Dace Melbārde, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia, adding that children are killed in their homes and on playgrounds and "air raid sirens remain a constant reality". Moscow has also used online platforms to recruit minors as informants and saboteurs, she said, calling for stronger safeguards to protect children's rights online.
The Russian Federation's delegate said that the children and armed conflict agenda is being applied selectively and undermined by double standards, incomplete reporting and politicization, contending that the United Nations has not adequately documented alleged violations against children by Ukrainian forces, while unverified allegations against his country receive disproportionate attention.
Today's anniversary should be "a celebration of achievements, and a reckoning with failures to prevent violations", said the representative of Denmark, pointing out that, despite "a sophisticated institutional mechanism", grave violations against children have reached unprecedented levels. Citing her country's role in establishing the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism and the Security Council Working Group in 2005, she underscored the importance of credible monitoring and political pressure in changing the behaviour of armed actors. "There is far, far more to do", chimed in the representative of the United Kingdom, calling on all parties listed in the Secretary-General's annual report to engage constructively with the United Nations to implement action plans to end grave violations against children. Expressing alarm over evolving threats against children through new technologies and methods of warfare, she pointed out that in Sudan, 80 per cent of child casualties in the first four months of the year are attributed to drone attacks.
The representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said that the forced recruitment of children as well as kidnappings and sexual violence is a major problem in the eastern part of her country. Action plans with the UN "have contributed to progress", she said, noting the withdrawal from her country "of parties that were listed for recruiting or using children in armed conflict".
