Third Committee hears UN monitors verified 38,558 grave violations against children, the highest annual figure in 30 years

Experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) that children are paying an increasingly devastating price for armed conflict. They reported the highest number of grave violations against children in 30 years.

Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said United Nations monitors verified 38,558 grave violations affecting 24,174 children. She called it the highest annual figure since her mandate was established 30 years ago. She said the growing use of drones and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted targeting has contributed to “a sharp increase in the scale of harm to children”. She urged Member States to address children’s mental health in next year's resolution on the rights of the child. The summary of the meeting does not break the 38,558 total down by country.

Sophie Kiladze, Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, said “Machines must never decide who lives and who dies, especially children”. She said AI can accelerate targeting and enable autonomous weapons. She also said the United Nations liquidity crisis has forced the cancellation of a session of her Committee, which delays the review of States’ compliance with their obligations. The United Nations is therefore a party to part of this story.

Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, said AI is creating new opportunities for sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, deepfakes and trafficking faster than regulatory frameworks can respond.

Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said annual deaths of children under five have fallen from 10 million in 2002 to less than half that figure. He said every fifth child lives in a conflict zone, and 49 million children were forcibly displaced in 2024. He added that around 12 million girls enter marriage in childhood each year.

In the interactive dialogue, delegates clashed over children in armed conflict. Israel’s representative accused Ms. Frazier of spreading misinformation and challenged her reporting of 12,000 violations in the Israel-Palestine conflict. He said: “The findings in your report are meaningless.” The observer for the State of Palestine said 22,000 Palestinian children had been killed over three years and demanded accountability.

Iran’s delegate said nearly 3,500 civilians, including 383 children, were killed in February in Israeli and United States attacks on his country. He also condemned a Washington, D.C., strike on an elementary school in Minab that he said killed 168 children. The summary records no reply from the United States.

Ukraine’s representative said the United Nations has verified nearly 4,000 Ukrainian children killed or injured since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He said over 20,000 cases of forced deportation have been documented. The Russian Federation’s delegate dismissed allegations of child abductions as “a myth”.

Myanmar’s representative said military attacks on schools, hospitals and other civilian sites have intensified since the 2021 coup, and that over 4.9 million children require humanitarian assistance. Mali’s representative, speaking for the African Union, reported that “1.2 million children have had their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes”. Yemen’s representative condemned the killing and recruitment of children by Houthi militias. Syria’s delegate acknowledged systematic violations under the previous regime.