Greece chairs UN Security Council meeting marking 30 years of the children and armed conflict mandate

The UN Security Council is meeting on Monday, 26 October, on children and armed conflict, a session that Greece has made a signature event of its October presidency of the Council. According to the United Nations meetings-coverage page, the briefing commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the General Assembly decision that created the mandate on children affected by war.

Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis is due to chair the open high-level meeting, according to the programme of his New York visit published by the Greek Foreign Ministry, which we reported in Gerapetritis in New York: he chairs two UN Security Council meetings, meets Guterres, and Mitsotakis presides over the maritime-security debate.

Why the anniversary matters

The mandate dates from 1996, when the General Assembly acted on the study of the impact of armed conflict on children. It has since become the framework through which the United Nations monitors and reports on the gravest abuses against children in war, among them killing and maiming, recruitment and use as soldiers, sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access.

The session comes at a time of record numbers. In its latest annual report, covering 2025, the Secretary-General reported that the UN verified 38,558 grave violations affecting 24,174 children, according to UN News. The same report found that, for the first time in the 30 years of monitoring, government forces were responsible for more grave violations than non-State armed groups, UN News said. The figures are the UN’s own verified counts.

Greece’s presidency and the digital dimension

The meeting follows the Council’s adoption on 19 October of resolution 2832 (2026), a text drafted by Greece. As we reported in Greece-drafted Security Council resolution 2832 on children and digital risks in armed conflict adopted unanimously, all 15 members voted in favour of language urging states to protect children in conflict from abuses committed, facilitated or amplified by digital technologies. Russia and the United States set out reservations during that debate, according to the Council’s meeting record.

Children and armed conflict is one of several signature events of the Greek presidency. The programme also includes a debate on Women, Peace and Security chaired by Gerapetritis on 27 October and, on 29 October, an open debate on maritime security and emerging technologies presided over by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to the Foreign Ministry.

What to watch

Council meetings of this kind usually hear from the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and from child-protection agencies before member states speak. The UN had not published a record of the interventions at the time of writing. The UN meetings-coverage service normally publishes a summary of the interventions after the meeting.