Local militias known as anti-balaka, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the Front populaire pour la renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC), Mouvement patriotique pour la Centrafrique (MPC), and Union pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC) are each listed in the annex of the Secretary General’s (SG) 2024 annual report on children and armed conflict (CAAC) for multiple grave violations against children. According to the SG’s February 2025 report on Central African Republic (S/2025/97), between October 2024 and January 2025, the UN verified that parties to conflict committed 126 grave violations against children. The number of violations may be higher given MINUSCA’s limited access to remote areas due to difficult terrain, compounded by the limited availability of air assets and the presence of explosive ordnance. In June, the SG will report on the situation in CAR and MINUSCA per SCR 2759 (2024). :
Sixteen non-State armed groups and the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) are listed in the annexes of the SG’s 2024 annual report on CAAC for committing grave violations against children. In April, UNICEF’s Executive Director briefed the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in the DRC, highlighting a 100 percent increase in verified grave violations in the first quarter of 2025, as compared to the first quarter of 2024. These include indiscriminate attacks, large-scale recruitment and use of children, collective abductions of children, as well as widespread sexual violence. Partners who have largely relied on MONUSCO’s maintenance of core infrastructure that facilitates humanitarian access are now experiencing challenges in reaching remote areas due to access restrictions imposed by parties to the conflict. :
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, March 2025, and May 2025, respectively.
In May, the SG released his fourth report on the situation of children and armed conflict in Yemen (S/2025/113), covering the period from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023. During this time, the United Nations verified 5,539 grave violations against 2,422 children (1,997 boys, 425 girls), including 193 children who were victims of multiple violations. The most prevalent violation was the denial of humanitarian access (2,806 incidents), followed by killing and maiming (1,941) and recruitment and use (564). The UN also verified 118 attacks on schools and hospitals, 64 abductions, and 46 cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Explosive ordnance caused the majority of child casualties, accounting for 69 percent of children killed or maimed, while the military use of 158 schools and 13 hospitals was also documented. The report notes a significant decline in violations following the 2022 UN-mediated truce and subsequent action plan implementation, as well as an overall decline in the total number of verified grave violations as compared to the previous report which covered a shorter reporting period. However, access restrictions and fear of reprisals continued to limit verification. :
Presidency of the Security Council for June:
Guyana: Party to Geneva Conventions I–IV, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Rome Statute of the ICC, and ILO Convention 182. Has endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration; has not endorsed the Paris Principles and Commitments nor the Vancouver Principles.
