BAMRO

Grave violations against children remained "at an alarming level" at nearly 26,500, while the pandemic increased their vulnerability to abduction, recruitment and sexual violence, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals.

Measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus have also complicated the work of UN child protection observers and experts, according to the report entitled A Stolen Childhood and a Future to Repair: The Vulnerability of Girls and Boys in Armed Conflict Exacerbated by the Covid-19 Pandemic.

 Les guerres d'adultes ont de nouveau volé l'enfance de millions de garçons et de filles en 2020. C'est complètement dévastateur pour eux, mais aussi pour l'ensemble des communautés dans lesquelles ils vivent, et détruit les chances d'une paix durable », a déclaré Virginia Gamba, la Représentante spéciale du Secrétaire général pour les enfants et les conflits armés.

The recruitment and use, as well as the killing and maiming of children, were the most widespread violations in 2020, followed by denial of humanitarian access and abductions, according to the report.

Abductions, attacks on girls' education

More than 8,400 young people have been killed or maimed in the ongoing wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Somalia, while nearly 7,000 others have been recruited and used in fighting, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Syria and Myanmar.

Researchers have reported an "exponential growth" in kidnappings, which increased by 90% last year. Rape and other forms of sexual violence have also increased by 70 per cent.