UNICEF, at least 120,2005 children killed or maimed since <>

Between 2005 and 2022, the UN ascertained 315,000 serious abuses against children in conflict, evidence of the devastating impact of conflict on children. According to UNICEF, violations committed by warring parties in more than 30 situations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America include: more than 120,000 children killed or maimed (an average of 20 per day), at least 105,000 recruited or used by armed forces or armed groups, more than 32,500 abducted, more than 16,000 victims of sexual violence. The UN has also verified more than 16,000 attacks on schools and hospitals and more than 22,000 cases of denied humanitarian access to children.

"Since these are only the confirmed cases - explains UNICEF - it is likely that the real toll is much higher. In addition, many millions more children have been displaced from their homes and communities, lost friends or relatives or have been separated from their parents or caregivers." "Every war is ultimately a war against children," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

"Exposure to conflict has catastrophic effects, which change children's lives. While we know what to do to protect children from war, the world is not doing enough." "Year after year, the United Nations documents the bloody, tragic and all too predictable ways in which children's lives are taken apart. It is up to all of us to ensure that children do not pay the price of adult wars and to take the bold and concrete actions needed to improve the protection of some of the world's most vulnerable children." Concluded.