Children in armed conflict: The protective role of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Children and other institutional responses

During this event co-organized at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) by Save the Children and the Legal Mobilization Platform with The Hague Humanitarian Studies Centre, panellists will discuss how the rights of children affected by armed conflict have been violated, the role of the UN Committee on the Rights of Children to try and address these violations and what still needs to be done, particularly at an institutional level. 

Children tend to bear the greatest brunt of any armed conflict and their human rights violated, despite many decades of efforts by states, international organizations and NGOs to try and prevent this.  According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2024 was one of the very worst years in recent history for children affected by armed conflict. This includes children being killed and injured, missing school, being denied life-saving vaccines and critically malnourishment. 

While an estimated 1 in 6 children live in a situation of armed conflict, in the past year these conflicts have been especially intense in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Myanmar, Gaza (Palestine), Ukraine and Sudan. 

This event is an opportunity to critically focus on the role of various actors, including Humanitarian NGOs and the United Nations Committee on Children's Rights, regarding children in armed conflict and the challenges in addressing these institutional gaps at supra-national, state and local levels, through the expertise of three well-known experts.

Speakers

To inform this discussion, we will be joined by Ann Skelton, who is Professor of Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World  at Leiden University and UNESCO Chair at the University of Pretoria as well as being a Member and outgoing Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child since 2017. After being re-elelected for a second term, her tenure on the Committee ended on 28 February 2025.

We will also be joined by Aurélie Lamazière, who is a Senior Programme Manager at Save the Children International. Based in Geneva, she leads and coordinates the organization’s work on accountability for grave violations affecting children in armed conflicts.  

The discussion will be moderated by Karin Arts, who is Professor of International Law and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. There will also be an opportunity for the audience to pose questions.

Jeff Handmaker, Associate Professor of Legal Sociology at the ISS and member of the Legal Mobilization Platform, will say some opening words and Pim Kraan, Director of Save the Children Netherlands will close the event.

Organizers

The event is organized by the Legal Mobilization Platform, The Hague Humanitarian Studies Centre (both based at ISS) and Save the Children.