By Kunle SHONUGA
The United Nations recorded over 21,000 violations against children during armed conflicts in 2017, a report from the UN chief said on Wednesday.
“These include over 10,000 children who were maimed and killed during fighting, as well as UN-verified instances of sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals and children being recruited as soldiers.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he was “outraged” at the figure, describing it as a significant increase from 2016.
No fewer than 6,000 violations were carried out by government forces and over 15,000 by non-state armed groups.
Myanmar’s military and Syrian and Yemeni government forces were among state actors listed as violators in the report.
In Syria, 2017 saw the highest-ever number of verified grave violations against children in the country at 2,896.
Child casualties spiked in Myanmar and Iraq due to increased violent clashes.
Cases of child recruitment quadrupled in the Central African Republic and doubled in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and remained steady in Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
