First lady of the United States – Melania Trump chairs UN Security Council debate on Children, Technology and Education in conflict

At the opening UN Security Council on the session of Children, Technology and Education in Conflict; Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peace building Affairs, pays tribute to the First lady of the United States for her work to give visibility to the issue of children in conflict and particularly for her personal engagement to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.

The fact says funding for education in emergencies has dropped by 24% even though needs are increasing. United Nations calls on member states to do more to meet funding gaps in education. The most effective way to protect children from conflict is to prevent and end wars. Building peace is at the heart of what the United Nations does. We must all work together toward this goal.

Today, we face the highest number of armed conflicts since 2nd World War. The number of civilians killed in these conflicts is the highest in decades. The reality is clear that when conflicts erupt children are among those most severely affected. Currently, we again reminded of this truth again. Schools in Israel, The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman have closed and moved to remote learning owing to the ongoing military operations in the region. Though it is still depending on United States authorities investigation, a report said possibilty dozens of children’ death as the result of a strike that hit an elementary schools in Minab, Iran. This adds up to 473 million children live in conflict zone. Grave violations against children verified by the United Nations increased by a staggering 25% from 2023 to 2024. Rape and other forms of sexual violence rose by 35%. These horrific figures should imple us to do more to protect children in conflict.

In digital learning space UN has made a concerted investment through private public partnerships:

UNICEF’s learning passport developed with Microsoft, offers 10 million children in 47 countries.
Joint project of the Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR, allows refugees and teachers to access digital educational content + the internet in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
UNESCO mobilizes digital technologies to bring learning directly into homes and communities reaching close to 9,000 school communities in Afghanistan including to response the exclusion of 2.2 million girls from education.
To ensure the technology opportunities realizes properly, Unite Nations mitigates its risk by strengthen legal and policy frameworks to protect child’s right in the digital space in line with international human rights law.

Conflicts rob children’s life and physical security. They deprive them of the right to have a quality education and a future of opportunities. 234 million children who live in crisis in conflict situations currently need educational support. 85 million are completely out of school. In violent conflicts, schools can be one of the only safe spaces that protect children from recruitment, trafficking and exploitation. Schools can safeguard health and hygiene, provide psychosocial support, and connect families to essential services. Unfortunately, schools, teachers and Education infrastructure continue to suffer violence. In 2024 alone, UN verified a total of 2,374 attacks mostly took place in Ukraine, Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and Haiti.

In its resolution 2601: the council urged all conflict parties to immediately cease attacks against schools, children and teachers and note that such attacks are in convention contravention of international humanitarian law. It called on all parties to safeguard, protect, respect and promote the right to education. The international legal framework is clear; we must act. The challenges of providing quality education in conflict situations are tremendeous. Infrastructure from electricity to classrooms to digital connectivity is often crumbling or at risk. Currently, 44 million teachers are needed in conflict settings plus digital learning to offer access to education when schools are closed or inaccessible or when students are fleeing violence.