For a printable version of Watchlist’s July 2025 Children and Armed Conflict Monthly Update, click here.

In his 2025 annual report (S/2025/247) on children and armed conflict (CAAC), the Secretary-General (SG) listed the Viv Ansanm coalition of armed gangs for the first time in the annexed list of perpetrators. The coalition was listed for recruitment and use, killing and maiming children, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, and attacks on schools and hospitals. In 2024, the UN verified 2,269 grave violations against 1,373 children (699 girls, 618 boys), an increase of 490 percent from 2023. The UN verified significant increases across all six grave violations against children. Sexual violence was the most prominent violation, with 566 children affected (523 girls, 43 boys) including 406 cases of rape and 160 of gang rape. The UN also verified the killing and maiming of 351 children, the recruitment and use of 302 children, the abduction of 154 children, 728 incidents of the denial of humanitarian access, and 154 attacks on schools and hospitals. In July, the mandate of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) is up for renewal, per SCR 2743 (2024). The Security Council should:  

• Express grave concern at the significant increase in verified grave violations against children in Haiti, and demand that all parties uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law (IHRL); 
• Call on all parties to take immediate and concrete steps to end and prevent rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, ensure survivors have access to comprehensive, gender-sensitive, and age-appropriate response systems and services, and strengthen preventive measures;  
• Urge all armed groups to immediately release all children under 18 from their ranks and end and prevent all child recruitment and use; reiterate that children associated with armed forces and groups should be treated primarily as victims, and their reintegration should be prioritized; encourage the Government of Haiti to fully and consistently implement its 2024 handover protocol, including through sufficient child protection capacities;    
• Ensure that the national police and the MSS prioritizes and mainstreams the protection of children during all operations, including through capacity-building; supports the release and recovery of children from armed groups and their immediate handover to civilian child protection actors; provides protection to and facilitates access for child protection actors to affected children; and shares with the UN Working Group on CAAC in Haiti information on grave violations against children, as appropriate;   
• Urge donors to swiftly mobilize additional flexible funds to support the humanitarian response in Haiti, including resources for child protection and reintegration programs. 

In the annexes of his 2025 annual report on CAAC, the SG continued to list Israeli armed and security forces for killing and maiming and attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and affiliated factions and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades for killing and maiming and abduction. For the second consecutive year, Israel and OPT was the situation with the highest number of verified grave violations in the SG’s annual CAAC report. The UN verified 8,554 grave violations against children in 2024 and an additional 2,788 violations that occurred in 2023 but were verified in 2024. These violations included the killing and maiming of 2,917 Palestinian children and 15 Israeli children, with reports of an additional 4,470 children killed in the Gaza Strip in 2024 still pending verification, the use of 27 Palestinian children as human shields by Israeli forces, 502 attacks on schools and hospitals, and 5,091 incidents of the denial of humanitarian access. The OPT is the situation with the highest number of children in detention in the SG’s 2025 annual report, with the UN verifying 951 Palestinian children detained. Israeli armed and security forces were found responsible for 7,188 of the total grave violations. The Security Council should:  

• Unequivocally condemn all violations and abuses committed against civilians, in particular the unprecedented number of grave violations against children; call on all parties to immediately end such violations and to cease all indiscriminate attacks and attacks on objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, including children, notably through the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA); 
• Demand that all parties fully comply with their obligations under IHL and IHRL; including the special protections afforded to children; call for an end to impunity; and call on all parties to immediately and fully implement all relevant Security Council Resolutions, in particular, 2712 (2023), 2720 (2023), 2728 (2024), and 2735 (2024), as well as resolutions on the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel and on CAAC; 
• Call for the immediate, safe, and unimpeded access of humanitarian actors for the delivery of humanitarian aid, including medical services, to children and other civilians in need, and for the facilitation of medical evacuations of critically sick and injured children with caregivers; and condemn attacks against humanitarian operations, premises and workers, including the killing of humanitarian personnel; 
• Urge the Israeli armed and security forces, Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and affiliated factions, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades to immediately cease all grave violations against children and to urgently engage with the UN to develop, sign, and implement time-bound, concrete action plans to end and prevent grave violations against children.   

In the SG’s 2025 annual report on CAAC, Al-Shabaab continues to be listed for all listable grave violations against children and Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a (ASWJ) for recruitment and use of children. The Somali National Army (SNA) and the Somali Police Force (SPF) were delisted this year for recruitment and use (conditional upon continued implementation of the 2012 joint action plan with the UN and 2019 roadmap) but remain listed for killing and maiming and rape and other forms of sexual violence. Somalia had the third highest number of UN-verified grave violations against children, with 2,568 grave violations against 1,992 children (1,447 boys, 545 girls) in 2024 and 50 violations that occurred in previous years. Abduction was the most prominent violation, with 887 children affected, primarily by Al-Shabaab (850) for recruitment and use purposes and forced marriage. The UN also verified the killing and maiming of 601 children and 267 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence against girls, noting a “fivefold increase in the number of gang rapes.” A total of 768 children were recruited and used, 291 children were detained on national security-related charges, 39 schools and hospitals were attacked, and humanitarian access was denied in 12 incidents. The Security Council should: 

• Demand that all parties fully uphold their obligations under IHL and IHRL, immediately cease all grave violations against children; and call on the Federal Government of Somalia to strengthen accountability for all grave violations committed against children; 
• Call on all parties to take immediate and specific steps to end and prevent rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, including by ensuring perpetrators are held accountable and that survivors have access to comprehensive, gender-sensitive, and age-appropriate response and protection; 
• Call on the Federal Government and regional authorities to treat children allegedly associated with armed forces or groups primarily as victims, in line with the Paris Principles and Commitments; and end the prosecution of children in military courts; 
• Welcome the steps taken by the Federal Government of Somalia towards ending and preventing child recruitment and use by the SNA and SPF, and call on the Federal Government to continue to sustain gains made under the 2012 action plan and 2019 roadmap; including the integration of child protection into military training; the rollout of the age verification guidelines and its standardized checklist endorsed by the Federal Government in July 2023; 
• Call on the Federal Government to strengthen its commitments to end and prevent rape and other forms of sexual violence against children; and to consistently apply the 2014 Standard Operating Procedures for the reception and handover of children separated from armed groups to civilian child protection actors for reintegration purposes;  
• Emphasize the need to maintain resources to allow UNTMIS to fully deliver on its mandated responsibilities including those related to CAAC; underline the need to prioritize measures to address the impact of conflict on children during ongoing and future military operations in Somalia in light of the phased drawdown of ATMIS. 

The Working Group has received the following reports of the SG on children and armed conflict and conclusions remain pending: Syria (S/2023/805), the Democratic Republic of Congo (S/2024/705), and Mali (S/2024/883), Burkina Faso (S/2025/101), and Myanmar (S/2025/81). For targeted recommendations, see Watchlist’s Monthly CAAC updates from December 2023, December 2024, and March 2025, May 2025, respectively.