Armed Conflict: Children

Sarah Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered children and armed conflict.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer, and it is a privilege to bring this topic, which I know is an important one for many of my constituents, to Westminster Hall today.

I open the debate with an uncomfortable statistic: today one in five children across the world are growing up in conflict zones. I am sure we can all agree that that is not a statistic we should accept or ever ignore. From Gaza to Ukraine to Yemen, children are paying the highest price for conflicts they did nothing to create. Between 2020 and 2024, nearly 50,000 have become casualties of war—the equivalent of 200 full passenger planes. Those figures are just the tip of the iceberg of the true scale of violations, are limited to incidents it was possible to record and verify, something that can be extremely challenging in situations of active conflict and where access restrictions are in place. UNICEF reports that more than 100 children have been killed in Gaza alone since the ceasefire in early October 2025. That is an average of one child killed every day—and that during a ceasefire. Is the Minister considering children’s distinct needs and vulnerabilities, and their additional rights under international law, in the context of assessing Israel’s compliance with international human rights law?

The United Nations children and armed conflict agenda makes abundantly clear what has been documented: the very youngest victims of war are being caught in its merciless machinery. Children face indiscriminate harm, including killings, maiming, recruitment, abductions and attacks on schools and hospitals, at levels not previously seen and Gaza figures among the worst-affected contexts. Currently, the Occupied Palestinian Territory is the most dangerous place on earth to be a child, obtaining that title for the second year running, with grave violations committed at an extraordinary scale and pace by the Israeli forces. Most verified incidents were of the killing and maiming of children caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It must be noted that children are seven times more likely than adults to die from blast injuries. Concurrently, we are witnessing the destruction of spaces dedicated to children’s education, development and play. Armed conflict exacts its heaviest toll on children.

[Helen Grant (Maidstone and Malling) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing the debate. As she has just mentioned education, does she agree that education for children in very difficult settings can provide them with a lifeline and a place where they can feel safe, make friends and build up their self-confidence and self-esteem, while at the same time, giving them a sense of hope and aspiration for the future? For those reasons, does she agree that it is important that the Government continue to fund education in those settings and to fund education research into what works best in trying to help and educate our children in very difficult conflict zones?

[Sarah Smith]

The hon. Member raises an incredibly important point. Children absolutely deserve the right to continue to have even the tiniest opportunity for some form of normality—something that helps them to imagine a world beyond the conflict that they are currently living in. I look forward to hearing from the Minister how our Government are supporting children in conflict zones, including Gaza.

Children are not simply collateral damage. With schools, hospitals and residential neighbourhoods struck, children are not just incidental casualties; they are front and centre in the decimation of armed conflict. Their places of safety, education and play are being mercilessly destroyed. Those children are forced to grow up faced with the daily nightmares of armed conflict and the impact that it has on their homes.

More than 60% of child casualties in recent conflicts are due to explosive weapons. The Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza, is among the deadliest places for children. We must remember these injuries cast a long shadow: a wounded child today becomes a young adult tomorrow, scarred physically, emotionally and psychologically. Many face a lifetime without adequate rehabilitation, prosthetics or even basic medical care because restricted humanitarian access and damage to hospitals make proper treatment nearly impossible.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech on an important topic. She talks about the trauma of children living in war zones. According to UNICEF, 100% of children in Gaza face mental health challenges, and are in need of mental health and psychosocial support. Does she agree that that is a crucial part of protecting children during conflict and helping them to recover from it?

[Sarah Smith]

Absolutely. I recognise my hon. Friend’s expertise: she worked in this area prior to coming to this place. Unfortunately, that statistic is no surprise, given the situation that children face in Gaza.

This Parliament has repeatedly affirmed that human rights are universal, that the rights of the child are not suspended at borders or battle lines, and that international law must be upheld consistently and without double standards. The convention on the rights of the child obliges us to protect children from all forms of violence, including during armed conflict, yet in Gaza that obligation is being flouted with impunity. The United Nations continues to verify grave violations, and keeps parties that violate children’s rights on its monitoring list—a solemn reminder that we cannot look away. I ask the Minister whether the Government will push Israel to agree to and implement a UN action plan to reduce harm to children, and ensure it remains listed in the report until that has been fully achieved.

I commend the work of the Labour Government. The latest figures show that they have provided £241 million in official development assistance to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including £154 million in humanitarian funding, between 2023 and 2025. That has enabled more than 500,000 medical consultations, food for about 647,000 people and sanitation for another 300,000. I pay genuine tribute to the important work that my hon. Friend the Minister does, and I thank him for his dedication to the region, both before coming to this place and since he has taken on these responsibilities. He has made huge diplomatic efforts since the horrific and unforgivable events of 7 October.

It is important to return to the United Nations children and armed conflict agenda. I know the Government champion it and have committed additional funding to support its mandate. Its yearly report identified the five most dangerous places to be a child in the world—the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Haiti and Nigeria—and is an important tool, acting as a catalyst for behaviour change.

[Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Does she agree that children are often used as tools, and even child soldiers, in many areas of conflict? In Sudan, for example, the conflict between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese armed forces has affected more than 10 million children, 200 of whom have been raped. Wherever possible, we must hold Governments to account, whether in India—where children are being deliberately targeted in Kashmir—Yemen, Sudan or Gaza. We cannot allow these situations, where children are the biggest sufferers, to go on. In my constituency, I see many young men from Afghanistan with mental health issues who are here seeking asylum or as refugees. We must give them the help that they deserve and need.

[Graham Stringer (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind Members that the time for this debate is tight, so interventions should be short and to the point.

[Sarah Smith]

Unfortunately, the official numbers no doubt do not represent the full situation yet it is devastating to hear what my hon. Friend says. His intervention also points to a broader challenge, although it is not part of this debate, about the need for the international or global human rights order at the current time, and the importance of organisations such as the International Criminal Court and the UN in upholding that order and campaigning on these critical issues.

What matters now is whether we act on what the research from the UN’s children and armed conflict agenda makes unmistakably clear. Childhoods are being destroyed and places of learning, safety and sanctuary are being decimated. We need to uphold international law and be a country that is promoting peace.

It is welcome that Gaza’s key Rafah border crossing is gradually being reopened. According to local hospitals and the World Health Organisation, about 20,000 sick and wounded Palestinians are waiting to leave Gaza for treatment. Can the Minister inform parliamentarians what discussions have taken place with the Israeli Government on the process for the evacuation of all severely sick children now that the Rafah crossing is beginning to open? Does that allow for humanitarian and medical specialists, UN agencies and civil society organisations to gain access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to support the unobstructed monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children?

[Several hon. Members rose—]