UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (APP):With record-breaking 38,000-plus grave violations against children verified in 2025 worldwide, Pakistan has called for stronger accountability for perpetrators and safeguards against digital harm to ensure their safety and prosperous future. "These offences are not happening in a vacuum but point towards deeper problems: a callous disregard for International Humanitarian Law; indiscriminate targeting of children, in some cases exacerbated by AI-integrated weapons; expanding vortex of global …
At UN, Pakistan demands global accountability amid record exploitation of children
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (APP):With record-breaking 38,000-plus grave violations against children verified in 2025 worldwide, Pakistan has called for stronger accountability for perpetrators and safeguards against digital harm to ensure their safety and prosperous future.
“These offences are not happening in a vacuum but point towards deeper problems: a callous disregard for International Humanitarian Law; indiscriminate targeting of children, in some cases exacerbated by AI-integrated weapons; expanding vortex of global conflicts; and crisis of confidence in multilateral diplomacy to provide the requisite redressal and protections,” Acting Pakistan Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Usman Jadoon, told the UN Security Council on Monday
The 15-member Council’s meeting on ‘Children in Armed Conflict’ was organized by Greece, which holds the Council presidency for the month of October, in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the children and armed conflict mandate.
The mandate for the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict was created by the General Assembly, following the landmark 1996 report, which pointed out that children were no longer bystanders to war but its targets.
In his remarks, Ambassador Jadoon reaffirmed Pakistan’s firm commitment to the CAAC (Children and Armed Conflict) mandate aimed at the safety and protection of children.
The Pakistani envoy pointed out that the plight of children was “more alarming” in the situations of foreign occupation,” noting that more than 12,000 verified incidences of grave violations, including killing and maiming, occurred only in one year in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Countless Palestinian children bear scars of perpetual psychological trauma – others suffer with amputated limbs and, spinal and head injuries – truly heartbreaking,” he added.
As a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of Child and its Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, he said, Pakistan remains committed to implementing their provisions, including by establishing a National Commission for Rights of Children and appointing a national focal person.
In this regard, Ambassador Jadoon calls for full respect for International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law by parties to armed conflict; just settlement of situations of armed conflict and foreign occupation in accordance with international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions; inclusive governance of military grade AI anchored in the UN framework; and verified documentation of grave violations by Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms (MRM).
He also called for the elimination of digital divide in conflict settings through resilient infrastructure and affordable connectivity prioritizing children, especially those with disabilities; national ownership and capacity building of child protection initiatives and strategies, and fostering a culture of accountability, by eliminating impunity.
Briefing the Security Council, Vanessa Frazier, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said that the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) provides “a credible, United Nations-verified picture of grave violations”, saying that “the scale of current violations remains stark”, with the UN verifying 38,558 grave violations affecting 24,174 children in 2025.
“This is the highest number of children affected since this mandate was established”, she stressed, pointing out that for the first time in the mandate’s history, Government forces were responsible for the majority of verified grave violations.
“This is deeply troubling,” Ms. Frazier deplored.
