The UN Children's Fund chief on Monday warned that children caught in today's conflicts "cannot wait another 30 years for the protection they have been promised," stressing that the reality of children living through war is becoming more dangerous.
"While the international community has built a strong framework to protect children in war, the reality for children living through conflict is increasingly dangerous," UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said at a UN Security Council briefing marking 30 years since a landmark report by Mozambican children's rights advocate Graca Machel on the impact of armed conflict on children.
"Since 2005, the United Nations has verified more than 430,000 grave violations against children in armed conflict — more than 38,000 were in 2025 alone," she said.
The highest numbers of violations last year were verified in the State of Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria, she said.
"And these are only the violations the United Nations was able to verify. The true scale is undoubtedly greater," Russell noted.
She said the UN has verified more than 44,000 incidents of denial of humanitarian access since 2005, including more than 8,000 in 2025 alone.
"At the very moment children most need protection, our ability to reach them is being undermined," she added.
Pointing to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, she stressed: "More than 70% of verified child casualties in 2025 were caused by explosive weapons."
"These weapons do not only kill and injure children. They destroy schools, hospitals, water systems, and other infrastructure essential to children's survival and development. The consequences can last long after the fighting has stopped," she said.
Describing it as "deeply alarming," Russel emphasized that such trends "are not inevitable."
"Three decades of experience have shown us that progress is possible when political will is matched by sustained engagement and concrete action by member states," she added.
Russel urged the Security Council to act immediately, saying that "the children caught in today's conflicts cannot wait another 30 years for the protection they have been promised. We must act and we must act now."
Vanessa Frazier, the secretary-general's special representative for children and armed conflict, told the council that decades of legal frameworks, advocacy, and engagement with parties to conflict had produced "concrete results."
"More than 40 action plans have been signed to date with parties to conflict, contributing to the release of over 220,000 children from armed forces and groups and their transfer to civilian child-protection actors," she said.
Noting the current violations, Frazier said: "In 2025, the UN verified 38,558 grave violations affecting 24,174 children. This is the highest number of children affected since this mandate was established."
She said government forces were responsible for the majority of verified grave violations for the first time in the mandate's history.
"This is deeply troubling. I condemn all grave violations against children, in every situation and every conflict, irrespective of who commits them," Frazier said.
"No party is exempt from its duty to protect children or from scrutiny when violations are committed," she said.
