(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NEW YORK, Oct 6 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday presented annual report on Children and Armed Conflict to UN Security Council, aimed at raising awareness on violations against rights of children and promoting measures to reduce their suffering in conflicts.
The report said government security forces committed about 4,000 violations against children last year, and 11,500 ones were committed by non-government armed groups.
Speaking at a news conference today, Guterres' special representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba said about 60 percent of children were recruited in the armed conflicts in 2016 compared with 56 percent in 2015.
The recruitment and use of children in conflict doubled in Somalia and Syria last year compared with 2015, she added.
She noted that more than 2,000 children were killed or wounded in military operations launched against the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Since the start of documenting violations in 2009-2016, Afghanistan witnessed the largest number of victims, at all, totaling 3,512, she revealed.
Despite the rising violations against children, the report pointed to clear progress made in protecting them through dialogue and efforts aiming to settle conflicts, she stressed.
She unveiled that UN efforts succeeded in releasing about 4,000 children from armed groups in Central African Republic and about 1,800 others from the military wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). (end) asf.hm
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