Representative of the Secretary‑General warns of rising attacks on schools, urges funding for education in conflict

Representative of the Secretary‑General told the meeting that the world is facing “the highest number of armed conflicts since the second World War” and that civilians — and particularly children — are bearing the heaviest toll.

"When conflicts erupt, children are among those most severely affected," the representative said, citing a suite of statistics to measure the scope of the problem: "1 in every 5 children is living in or fleeing a conflict zone. This adds up to 473,000,000 children," and "graves violations against children verified by the United Nations increased by a staggering 25% from 2023 to 2024." The speaker also said the United Nations verified 2,374 attacks on schools and hospitals in 2024.

Those figures framed a broader appeal to protect education in crisis settings. The representative noted that schools in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman moved to remote learning because of ongoing military operations, and referenced reports from Iran of a strike that hit an elementary school in the town of Binah, which U.S. authorities said they were investigating.

The speech set out the humanitarian consequences in concrete terms: the representative said 234,000,000 children in conflict situations currently need educational support and 85,000,000 are completely out of school. "Education in conflict zones is life saving and life sustaining," the speaker said, adding that schools can shield children from recruitment, trafficking and exploitation and provide health and psychosocial services.

Presenting responses that are already in use, the representative highlighted digital learning initiatives and public‑private partnerships. The address cited UNICEF's Learning Passport — developed with Microsoft — as an example that "offers 10,000,000 children in 47 countries a mobile learning platform," and named the Instant Network Schools program (Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR) as improving digital access for refugees and teachers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. The speaker said UNESCO is mobilizing digital technologies in Afghanistan to reach nearly 9,000 school communities in response to the exclusion of 2,200,000 girls from education.

At the same time, the representative warned of digital risks: "Children in conflict face heightened online threats, exploitation, trafficking, radicalization, digital recruitment into armed groups, and cyberbullying," and urged stronger legal and policy frameworks and safeguards from technology companies to protect children in digital education.

The representative also flagged financing shortfalls: "funding for education in emergencies has dropped by 24% even though needs are increasing," and called on member states to do more to meet gaps in education financing. The address closed with a policy note that preventing and ending wars is the most effective way to protect children, and that building peace is central to the United Nations' work.

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript of these remarks.