The United Nations (UN) verified more than 25,000 serious violations against children in armed conflicts in 2019, according to the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflicts, released on Monday.
The total number of serious violations remains similar to 2018 and represents around 70 violations per day. More than half of the violations in 2019 were committed by non-state authors, according to the report. Of the 10,173 children (4,019) and (6,154) mutilated, Afghanistan was the deadliest country for children, followed by Syria and Yemen, according to the report.
7,747 children, some under the age of six, were recruited and used. Among these, 90 percent were used by non-state authors.
Rape and other forms of sexual violence continued to be largely underreported, with 735 cases confirmed in 2019. Cases prevailed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, Central African Republic, Sudan and South Sudan.
The UN also confirmed the kidnapping of 1,683 children in 2019, with more than 95 percent of cases perpetrated by non-state authors, mainly in Somalia, DRC and Nigeria. Children were kidnapped for recruitment, use and violence or sexual rescue.
4,400 incidents of denial of humanitarian access to children were verified in 2019, the biggest increase in the number of incidents verified for any violation, compared to 2018.
The UN ends the report by pointing out that there were 927 attacks on schools and hospitals. The highest numbers were seen in Syria, the occupied Palestinian territory, Afghanistan and Somalia.
