The protection of children is one of the most important issues related to the future of mankind.

Therefore, the international community has long since taken a variety of measures related to child protection including the conclusion of the international treaty on the protection of the children’s rights.

However, many children do not receive proper legal protection and care throughout the world.

According to information published by the UN, more than 11 600 children were killed or wounded during conflicts in 2023 alone, a 35 percent increase over the previous year.

The number of child victims continues to rise in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli military attack.

The public health authorities of the Gaza Strip announced that over 16 200 children were killed from October 2023 to April 2025. And as the supply of foodstuffs, humanitarian aid materials and medicines has been cut off by the persistent blockade tightened by Israel, over 70 000 children suffer from life-threatening malnutrition and do not receive medical treatment. The public health authorities deplored the worsening plight of children in the area plagued by the shortage of food, clean water and vaccine.

In the countries troubled by disputes children are exposed to the constant threat to their personal safety and even deprived of their rights to learning.

Children are forced to become child soldiers and driven to the battle sites by armed groups in some countries. According to data available, at least 300 000 children are employed as child soldiers in the disputed areas in Africa, the Middle East and other places and they take part in the battles directly and are mobilized to lay and remove mines.

They even become the targets of rape, forced marriage, abduction and slavery in the disputed areas.

African children are suffering from severe food shortage caused by the disputes and climate change.

In the Horn of Africa about 11 million children suffer from malnutrition, while over 700 000 children under five are suffering acute malnutrition in Kenya.

Child abuse is growing rampant in Japan. According to data released by the Ministry of Welfare and Labour of Japan on March 25, the cases of child abuse registered in the 2023 fiscal year numbered 225 509, a 5 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. The number has been growing continuously for 33 years. Many children became the targets of mental and physical abuse, family violence and sexual assault and, in particular, child abuses in Tokyo were 19 488 cases, the highest number.

In the US, students attend school with guns and shoot not only other students but even their teachers without hesitation. Gun crimes occur one after another in the country, posing a constant threat to the lives of children.

Such tragedies of reducing children, the future of mankind, to victims or making them physically handicapped and mentally deformed should not be allowed to continue.

The effective protection of children is a pressing issue facing humankind.