Children’s rights are in jeopardy 34 years after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), according to Catherine Russell, head of the UN Children’s Fund. Russell emphasized that children today are living in a world increasingly hostile to their rights, with around 400 million children living in or fleeing conflict zones. Many are being injured, killed, or sexually violated, losing family members and friends, and some are being recruited and used by armed forces or groups. Many have been displaced multiple times, risking separation from their families, losing critical years of education, and fraying ties to their communities.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child also called for stronger advocacy towards the fulfillment and protection of children’s rights, including through supporting the alignment of national legal frameworks with the CRC and ensuring accountability for violations wherever they occur. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that “Children need peace, now.” The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child also voiced concern over the thousands of children dying in armed conflicts in many other countries, including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, Haiti, Sudan, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia.
The situation of girls affected by armed conflict is also at a crisis point, with verified reports of the abduction and rape of girls in Sudan and Haiti. They also expressed concern over children of “foreign fighters” who should be repatriated. An estimated 31,000 children are still living in abysmal conditions in the camps, and the plight of boys who are being separated from their mothers when they reach early adolescence and several hundred boys in prison.
