The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, warned at the end of the year of an increase in the number of violations of children's rights, and stressed that the situation is "especially worrying in countries in conflict."

Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Ethiopia, were some of the countries mentioned by the agency's director-general, Henrietta Fore, in an assessment made about 2021, lamenting that minors continue to die and suffer, reports the official communication organ of the United Nations UN News.

According to Unicef, only less than half of the parties involved in conflicts around the world have actually committed to protecting children.

Thus, the year 2021 "was marked by serious violations of the rights of minors," says the publication.

On the last day of the year, Unicef warned of "the devastating price that thousands of children are paying" because of armed conflict, intercommunal violence and insecurity.

The UN agency's executive director stressed that "year after year, the warring sides continue to show contempt for the welfare" of minors. Henrietta Fore said that "children are suffering and dying because of this insensitivity" and called for more efforts "to protect minors from these dangers."

Unicef clarified that the 2021 data is not yet available, but recalled that already in 2020 26,400 serious violations were committed against children, a total recorded by the UN.

But in the first three months of 2021, cases of kidnapping or sexual violence continued to rise to alarming levels: over 50% and 10% respectively, compared to the same period in 2020.

Somalia was the country that registered the highest number of kidnappings or abductions of minors, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Lake Chad Basin (a region comprising Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger).

The UN children's agency also reveals that the states with the highest numbers of cases of sexual violence against children were DR Congo, Somalia, and the Central African Republic.

Over the past 16 years, the United Nations has confirmed that there have been 266,000 cases of grave violations against children in more than 30 conflicts in various regions of the world, but the actual numbers may be much higher.

Afghanistan, for example, is the country with the highest number of child deaths in conflict since 2005: 28,500. The Middle East and North Africa, meanwhile, were the regions with the highest numbers of attacks on schools and hospitals: 22 in the first half of this year alone.

According to Unicef, last year the use of explosives, remnants of war, killed or injured a total of 3,900 children.

Another problem highlighted by the agency is the recruitment of children for combat, especially in African countries such as Somalia and DR Congo.

Unicef therefore calls on all parties to the conflict to implement action plans and concrete measures to protect children and prevent serious violations from occurring.