Greece-drafted Security Council resolution 2832 on children and digital risks in armed conflict adopted unanimously

The UN Security Council on 19 October adopted resolution 2832 (2026) on children and armed conflict and digital risks, with all 15 members voting in favour. According to the Council’s meeting record, Greece was the author of the draft.

The text condemns violations of international law involving the recruitment and use of children by parties to armed conflict, along with re-recruitment, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, and attacks on schools and hospitals. It calls on member states to protect children in armed conflict from abuses that digital technologies commit, facilitate or amplify.

It also encourages states to place the impact on children at the centre of digital policymaking, to give teachers and educators access to digital resources, and to help children affected by armed conflict build digital literacy and resilience.

What the Greek delegation said

Presenting the draft, Greece said the children and armed conflict mandate, created three decades ago, has changed along with the nature of conflict, and that children are now recruited and radicalised online. The Greek representative said the resolution does not regulate digital content or restrict freedom of expression, and is aimed at violence fuelled by such content. She described it as opening the issue rather than closing it.

Positions of other members

Russia said digital technologies have not created new categories of grave violations and that the mandate itself is unchanged; it argued that best practices should be compiled by the Special Representative within the existing mandate. The United States said it had withdrawn support for the Office of the Special Representative over what it called a lack of results, and disassociated itself from references that expand the Office’s role. China said some legitimate concerns were not fully reflected in the text.

Denmark backed the resolution but asked for stronger regulation of large technology companies. Latvia called for more research, including a gender perspective, noting evidence that girls face higher risks of technology-facilitated gender violence. Somalia stressed national ownership and warned that implementation should not overburden conflict-affected countries. Bahrain called for international cooperation and capacity-building, and Liberia said those who use digital tools to recruit, coerce or exploit children should be held accountable.

Greece in the chair

Greece holds the Council presidency for October. Earlier this month it announced the Council’s call for implementation of the 1974 disengagement agreement on the Golan, as reported in Golan: Greece, as Security Council president, announces the Council’s call for implementation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, and it spoke at the Council’s debate on Yemen, covered in UN Security Council: Greece condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and ships, Grundberg warns of “full-scale war” in Yemen.