International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

4 June


Palestinian children search through the rubble of their home destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khuza'a, southern Gaza Strip in 2014. UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan

"Children need peace and protection at all times. The rules of war prohibit the unlawful targeting of civilians, attacks on schools or hospitals, the use, recruitment and unlawful detention of children, and the denial of humanitarian assistance. When conflicts break out, these rules need to be respected and those who break them need to be held to account. Enough is enough. Stop attacks on children."


—UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore


It is a sad reality that in situations where armed conflict breaks out, it is the most vulnerable members of societies – namely children, who are most affected by the consequences of war. The six most common violations are recruitment and use of children in war, killing, sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.

On 19 August 1982, at its emergency special session on the question of Palestine, the General Assembly, “appalled at the great number of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israel’s acts of aggression”, decided to commemorate 4 June of each year as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (resolution ES-7/8).

The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. This day affirms the UN's commitment to protect the rights of children. Its work is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most rapidly and widely ratified international human rights treaty in history.


This video presents the work of the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. The mandate of the Special Representative was created in 1996 to address the plight of children affected by war.

http://www.un.org/en/events/childvictimday/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode