The Archivio Disarmo International Research Institute recently published in its journal 'IRIAD Review. Peace and Conflict Studies' an in-depth article on children living in areas of ongoing conflict. We are pleased to republish it here, and thank the experts of Archivio Disarmo for their collaboration.
In 2023, nearly half a billion children - or one in five- lived in a war zone and the number of serious violations committed against them increased by 15% in 2023, reaching the highest level in twenty years. This percentage has almost doubled from around 10% of the world's child population in the mid-1990s, while the right of children to protection in conflict continues to be ignored.
The worst situations are in Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian territories. An average of 31 children were killed or mutilated every day. In a context in which disputes are resolved through military means, military expenditure is bound to reach very high levels: in fact, worldwide, it has reached $2.4 billion, i.e. more than the entire Italian gross domestic product. This is confirmed by Save the Children in its report Stop the War on Children: Pathways to Peace. The study analysed the number of serious violations committed against children in conflicts (killings and mutilations, abductions, sexual violence, recruitment into regular armies and armed groups, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access) and found that more than thirty thousand of these cases occurred in 2023. On a daily basis, the average number of crimes was 86. This figure far exceeds the 2022 figure of 27,638, an average of 76 per day, which was already a record. Unfortunately, these are not just dry statistics; behind these figures lie unimaginable suffering, shattered dreams, grief, and endless destruction.
At the top of the list are the Occupied Palestinian territories, where 8,434 serious violations - a quarter of the total number - were found, an increase of 170% over the previous year. This is followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (with almost four thousand cases, a sharp increase compared to 2022) and Somalia (with over two thousand verified cases, a slight decrease compared to 2022). The largest relative increase in serious violations was in Sudan where cases have increased fivefold since 2022, from 317 to 1,759. The Save the Children analysis also highlighted an alarming number of UN member states that have signed up to less than half of the international legal and policy instruments that guarantee the protection of children in conflict.
'A peaceful childhood is a fundamental part of building peaceful societies,' the organisation concludes. As government leaders and civil society, including activists, survivors and young people, prepare to meet at the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children to be held in Colombia next month, this report stresses the urgent need to intensify action to combat violence against children in conflict and build a safer future for them'.
In 2023, more than eleven thousand cases of killing and mutilation of children in conflicts were documented (+31 per cent compared to 2022). More than a third were Palestinian children. Incidents of denial of humanitarian access also reached an all-time high, with over five thousand cases in 2023, 11 times more than a decade ago.
"This report is devastating and leaves no doubt: the world is becoming more and more dangerous for children. In recent years,' said Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, 'globally, we have seen various advances in children's rights and protection, but in the countries at war the situation is drastically worsening. We are witnessing a continuous increase in global military expenditure, while investment in conflict prevention is declining. This shows that we are focusing on the wrong aspect and the consequences are devastating. The ongoing conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan, Ukraine and many other countries have seen a terrible escalation of attacks on children, schools and hospitals: violations that have sparked global outrage, but which have not yet been followed by any real and meaningful commitment to Peace. The States must act'.
Luciano Bertozzi
