The UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, today condemned before the Security Council the increase in grave violations against minors, a situation she described as "intolerable."

"Children are not collateral damage. They are not bargaining chips or dispensable. Yet they are treated as if their lives could be sacrificed for military advantage, territorial control, political domination, economic profit, or total destruction," she stated.

Frazier participated in the Security Council's annual debate on children and armed conflict, which this year focused on reaffirming legal and international protections for the population and strengthening the protection of education and the prevention of grave violations.

The diplomat referred to the latest report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, which revealed that killings and maiming of minors in armed conflicts increased by 34% in 2025. That year, described as one of the darkest for child protection since data collection began, a total of 38,558 grave violations against children were committed.

"For the first time, government forces are the primary perpetrators of grave violations against children overall, and specifically of their killing and maiming, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access," she underscored.

The highest levels of violations in 2025 occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Myanmar, and Somalia.

Faced with this situation, Frazier demanded that member states act "with determination" and use "all tools at their disposal to ensure that the armed and security forces named in the report change their way of waging war and integrate child protection into military planning."

Before speaking today at the Council, Israel's Permanent Representative Danny Danon accused the UN of having an "anti-Israel bias" for including Israel as one of the settings where these violations were concentrated. Danon rejected these accusations contained in the report and pointed to Frazier as "proof of a culture within the UN" against Israel.

Separately, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the Council today that the report "tells only part of the story," as many other violations go unreported due to "insecurity, access restrictions, fear of reprisals, and the challenges of documenting abuses in active war zones."

"Children do not start wars and have no power to stop them. They die, suffer, and carry their consequences for decades. We owe them a world where war is a matter for combatants, and they can grow, learn, and dream in peace," she asserted.