The year of 2018 saw the highest numbers killed or maimed since the United Nations began monitoring the violation.
More than 12,000 children were killed or maimed that year, said the authors of he 2018 edition of the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict.
“Children continue to be used in combat, particularly in Somalia, Nigeria and Syria: some 7,000 have been drawn into frontline fighting roles around the world, during 2018. They also continue to be abducted, to be used in hostilities or for sexual violence: more than half of the 2,500 reported cases were in Somalia,” the UN news website reports.
Some 933 cases of sexual violence against boys and girls were reported, but this is believed to be an under-estimate, due to lack of access, stigma and fear of reprisals, the authors stressed.
Attacks on schools and hospitals have decreased overall, but have intensified in some conflict situations, such as Afghanistan and Syria, which has seen the highest number of such attacks since the beginning of the conflict in the country, the reports reads.
belsat.eu, following un.news.org
