Children and wars: it is a massacre of the innocents. In Sudan and Congo a minor raped every 30 minutes

Avoiding the massacre of innocents: a child raped every thirty minutes. This is one of the most horrifying data that emerged from the UNICEF agenda "Children and armed conflict", in the report edited by the director for child protection, Sheema Sen Gupta. The debate at the UN Security Council two days ago has turned the spotlight on thousands of children killed, mutilated, kidnapped , recruited by armed groups or deprived of access to humanitarian aid in 2024 and the first months of 2025. More than an appeal, UNICEF's sounds like a cry directed at governments and international institutions: stop explosive weapons in populated areas and stop impunity for those who rape and kill.

Childhood is not a gray area, it knows no trenches: protecting it is a legal and moral duty. “Children are not soldiers. They are not commodities. They are children. And they deserve peace,” said Sen Gupta. That 2025 will be a disastrous year for war and conflict is now non-news. That 2024 saw the highest number of grave violations against children in conflict zones is perhaps less newsworthy. With a 25 percent increase compared to 2023, already an annus horribilis, 2024 has taken first place in this terrible ranking. Data that, moreover, are destined to remain uncertain: the real extent of the phenomenon , beyond the officially documented cases, is, very likely, vaster and more terrifying.

Palestinian children search for food at a distribution point in Nuseirat camp

A picture that becomes even more alarming if we look at the areas most affected. In Israel and Palestine, in 2024 alone, over 8,000 serious abuses were recorded. As evidenced by the images that bounce daily from social media to social media and underlined by the UNICEF report, children are the main victims , targeted by explosive weapons that hit residential areas, schools and hospitals. “Nowhere else in the world has such a high number of serious violations been recorded since this Council established the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism twenty years ago,” the agenda reads.

In Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo , two of the most tormented countries, the reality is told by the numbers: between January and February 2025, in just two months, almost 10 thousand cases of rape and sexual violence occurred. In 4 out of 10 cases, minors were involved: an average, in fact, of one child raped every thirty minutes. UNICEF reports two of the most alarming data: the systematic use of explosive weapons in populated areas – responsible for more than 70 percent of killings and mutilations – and the increase in sexual violence, which has grown by over 30 percentage points in the last year.

Weapons and rapes that, along with bodies, also hit the structures essential for survival and life itself: hospitals, schools, water systems. A diabolical recipe that means physical, psychological, social wounds, and signs that time is not enough to heal.

Faced with such scenarios, UNICEF calls for international humanitarian law to be respected by all parties to the conflict, stopping the spread and use of explosive weapons in populated areas. That all States, inside or outside the conflict, not only respect it, but above all guarantee its respect by other States. Above all, the protection and expansion of the humanitarian space is necessary. A space often marginalized and threatened.

Even at the economic level, as is the case with the Unicef ​​agenda itself, with cuts that “are undermining our ability to monitor, prevent and respond”. Like Leopardi’s broom on the back of the volcano, even in the desert of conflicts there are signs of hope.

More than 16,000 children were freed from armed groups in 2024 and received protection and reintegration aid. Some countries – including Syria, the Central African Republic, Congo, Haiti, Iraq and Pakistan – have made concrete commitments to end child recruitment and facilitate the reintegration of children. Meanwhile, governments and local authorities are launching protection protocols, dedicated task forces and legal proceedings against those responsible for violations, as happened in Colombia. Signs that “where there is political will, progress is possible”, the report underlines. But UNICEF warns: all this is not enough. Funds are needed, criminal accountability of the guilty parties, otherwise the spiral will not stop. In short, conflicting signals, sometimes positive, sometimes decidedly gloomy. The appeal remains the same, urgent and unheard: save childhood from the wars of adults.