UNICEF’s Catherine Russell Tells UN Security Council Reality for Children in Conflict Is ‘Increasingly Dangerous’, 30 Years After Machel Report

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell used a UN Security Council meeting on 26 October 2026 to mark 30 years since Graça Machel’s landmark report on the impact of armed conflict on children. According to the text of her remarks, as delivered, published by UNICEF, the meeting in New York was convened by Greece. Russell said that thirty years on, the world faces “a deeply troubling paradox”, and she set out figures from the UN’s verification of violations against children.

The figures she cited

Russell said that since 2005 the United Nations has verified more than 430,000 grave violations against children in armed conflict, and that more than 38,000 of them were in 2025 alone. She said more than 70 per cent of verified child casualties in 2025 were caused by explosive weapons. The highest numbers of grave violations verified last year, she said, were in the State of Palestine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.

She also pointed to denial of humanitarian access, saying the UN has verified more than 44,000 such incidents since 2005, including more than 8,000 in 2025. She also said more than 220,000 children have been released from armed forces and armed groups. She told the Council that more than one-third of UNICEF-supported safe spaces for women and children in South Sudan had closed, citing funding cuts, and referred to the Council’s recent adoption of resolution 2832, which addresses the impact of digital technologies.

Three calls to the Council

Russell closed with three calls. The first was that all parties to conflict must cease and prevent grave violations against children. The second was that the Children and Armed Conflict framework itself must be protected and strengthened. The third, she said, was a plea on behalf of the millions of children trapped in conflicts around the world, and she urged the Council to redouble efforts to prevent and resolve the wars devastating their lives.

Why It Matters

In our view, the anniversary gives the Security Council a fixed point for asking whether the framework built after the Machel report is being matched by action on the ground. The figures Russell cited are violations that the UN has been able to verify, and they show that the numbers remain high three decades on. Her calls place responsibility first on the parties to conflict and then on governments that can influence them. Whether the Council follows the meeting with concrete steps is the question to watch.