A child draws their experiences of war in the Central African Republic.

What are grave violations

There are six ‘grave violations’ of children defined by the United Nations (UN). Here's what they are.

Where did they come from? 

During war, when society has broken down, children are incredibly vulnerable and are unfortunately targeted in the most sinister ways by armed forces and groups. 

The UN wanted to highlight, monitor, and increase protection of children in these dire circumstances, so the 'Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict' was created in 1996. The current special representative is Virginia Gamba. 

A few years later, the six grave violations were created, which covered the core areas of how children suffer during times of war and help raise awareness of those who are committing horrific acts against children.  

The tragic fate of child victims of conflict cannot and must not leave us unmoved; a child killed, recruited as a soldier, injured in an attack or prevented from going school due to a conflict is already one too many
Special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, 2017

So what are these six grave violations? 

1. The first grave violation is the killing and maiming of children. 

The number of children verified by the UN as killed or maimed has risen drastically in the last decade. 

2. Recruitment or use of children as soldiers is the second. 

Around 5,000 children are released from armed groups annually over the past decade. It's difficult to pinpoint how many child soldiers exist, but it's believed to be in the tens of thousands. 

Multiple economic and social factors can interact with one another, such as household poverty and lack of job opportunities, which are agreed to strongly encourage children to join armed groups. 

3. and 4. There's a growing trend in sexual violence against children and abductions of them, which are the third and fourth grave violations. 

It's central to why we provide protection to children in war zones through our safe spaces and educational programmes. 

5. In the last decade, the incidents of the fifth grave violation being perpetrated, attacks against schools and hospitals, have doubled. 

You may have seen reports previously in the media of these happening in both Yemen and Syria. 

6. The blockage of food, water, and medicine is the sixth and final grave violation. 

Between 2010 and 2018, these blockages have increased by more than 1,500 per cent. 

Yemen's war has become so devastating because of this reality, and it's why War Child is providing food vouchers to help relieve malnutrition and starvation. 

 

Frederique, a former child soldier from the Central African Republic, can be a child again. He's playing football with the new friends he's made at the War Child space.

How do they help children? 

Think of the 'grave violations' as a global name-and-shame exercise. 

In 2005, the UN created a monitoring and reporting mechanism (MRM). It gathers objective, reliable evidence of grave violations against children. 

These are used in the Secretary-General's annual report on children in armed conflict. It lists states and groups that are committing grave violations against children. 

Individual state-specific reports are also created, with action-plans outlining how these parties can do more to protect children in conflict. 

States and groups that are 'listed', or named-and-shamed, can only be delisted once they stop committing grave violations against children. 

Yet progress in addressing and preventing these grave violations has been really slow, and there is widespread impunity.  

States are still doing terrible things to children. Groups are still recruiting children. Schools and hospitals are still being targeted.  

Children are still having their childhood ripped away from them.