Joint Statement Group of Friends on Children and Armed Conflict
Interactive Dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
10.03.2026
President,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of Friends on Children and Armed Conflict co-chaired by Belgium and Uruguay.
The latest report of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict confirms the highest number of grave violations against children since the establishment of the monitoring and reporting mechanism, emphasizing the need for strengthened prevention, protection and accountability.
We are alarmed by the rise in conflict-related sexual violence against children which requires survivor-centred support, including access to health care, education and psychosocial services.
Children associated with armed forces or armed groups must be treated primarily as victims and supported through community-based, gender-, age- and disability-responsive reintegration.
Accountability demands reinforced national and international mechanisms ensuring child-sensitive investigations, prosecutions and effective remedies.
Child protection must also be integrated across all phases of conflict, ensuring children’s safe and meaningful participation in prevention, mediation, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction.
As we celebrate thirty years of the CAAC mandate, we welcome its evolution into a results-oriented framework, supported by the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism and targeted action plans. However, the mandate’s full and effective implementation depends on adequate resourcing.
We reaffirm our unwavering support for the mandate and urge all States and parties to conflict to cooperate fully with the UN, civil society and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that children remain at the centre of the peace and security agenda.
Thank you.
Armenia, Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands (Kingdom of the), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay