UN data shows 35% increase in child deaths and casualties in areas with active hostilities

UN data shows that over the past year, the number of cases of murder and injury of children living in the territories of hostilities has increased by 35%. This is the highest rate in history.

Source: This was announced by Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) Commissioner for Human Rights, during a press conference on the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen.

"In the last year alone, according to the UN, the percentage of violence against children in armed conflict has increased by 21 points. This is the highest mark in the history of the world!

The number of cases of murder and injury have increased by 35% – the world witnesses crimes against children daily!" 

According to Lubinets, according to the results of 2024, there is a high probability of an increase in these indicators.

The tendency of armed conflicts to spread also continues to develop. In addition to Ukraine, fighting continues in Gaza, Burkina Faso, Congo, Myanmar, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and other countries.

"The problem is that there is no international system for protecting children’s rights, there is no system for responding to such violations. And we record the facts that children are being killed, children are being maimed.

Unfortunately, children are also among those who experience sexual violence," Lubients reports.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, 551 children were killed since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, these figures only cover territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.

The commissioner also stated that at the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, which will be held on 12 September, they intend to invite representatives from countries that not only have experience with cases of child rights violations in armed conflicts, but also have their own methods of combating them.

The summit will mainly focus on protecting children, bringing them back after deportation, developing innovative techniques to psychological rehabilitation, including implementing responsibility for child militarisation and their abduction, and so on.

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