A new UN report has revealed that there were at least 26,425 grave violations against children in 2020.

The annual Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report released on Monday said that of the violations, 23,946 were committed in 2020 and 2,479 were committed earlier but verified only last year, Xinhua news agency reported.

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Violations affected 19,379 children, including 14,097 boys in 21 situations.

The highest numbers of violations were the recruitment and use of 8,521 children, followed by the killing and maiming of 8,422 children and 4,156 incidents of denial of humanitarian access, the report said.

Children were detained for actual or alleged association with armed groups, including those designated as terrorist groups by the UN.

Escalation of conflict, armed clashes, and disregard for international humanitarian law and international human rights law had a severe impact on the protection of children.

Cross-border spillover of conflicts and inter-communal violence-affected children, in particular, in the Sahel and Lake Chad basin regions, said the report.

The highest numbers of grave violations were verified in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

Verified cases of abduction and sexual violence against children increased alarmingly by 90 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively. Abduction is often combined with the recruitment and use of children and sexual violence said the report.

Grave violations affect boys and girls differently. While 85 per cent of children recruited and used were boys, 98 per cent of sexual violence was perpetrated against girls.

Sexual violence remained vastly underreported, owing to stigmatization, cultural norms, absence of services, and safety concerns, according to the report.

The Covid-19 pandemic aggravated existing vulnerabilities of children, including hampering their access to education, health and social services, limiting child protection activities and shrinking safe spaces.

The socio-economic impact of the pandemic exposed these children to grave violations, notably recruitment and use, abduction and sexual violence.

Attacks on schools and hospitals, and the military use thereof, exacerbated the plight of children, said the report.

The protection of children affected by armed conflict is crucial to preventing conflict and sustaining peace, the report said, urging national and regional stakeholders to develop and expand initiatives to prevent grave violations.