Violations of Children’s Rights in 2021

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that this year has seen a surge in egregious abuses of children’s rights in both long-running and new conflicts.
Thousands of children have paid a terrible price as armed conflict, intercommunal violence, and insecurity have continued from Afghanistan to Yemen, Syria to northern Ethiopia, UNICEF said in a statement on December 31. At least 35 people, including two Save the Children staff members, were killed in Kayah State in Eastern Myanmar just last week, with four children among the victims. This is just the most recent high-profile example of the tragic toll that violence has on children, as well as the constant threats that humanitarian workers face.Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, warned that conflict parties continue to show a horrific disrespect for children’s rights and well-being year after year. She urged that every effort be made to keep youngsters safe.While data for 2021 is not yet available, the UN certified 26,425 grave breaches against children in 2020.Although the overall number of verified grave violations decreased slightly in the first three months of 2021, UNICEF reported that verified cases of abduction and sexual violence continued to rise at alarming rates – by more than 50% and 10%, respectively – compared to the same period the previous year.