Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking through the UN to advance the Children and Armed Conflict agenda.

The UN Secretary General's 2025 report on Children and Armed Conflict is shocking; it shows that children are being harmed and denied lifesaving aid on an unprecedented scale.

As we made clear in our statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict on 25 June, the UK is deeply concerned at the worsening situation for children in conflict, and remains committed to both preventing and ending grave violations against children in conflict, and to supporting, promoting and defending the UN Children and Armed Conflict mandate.

The UK is an active member of the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and plays a key role in ensuring effective scrutiny by the UN Security Council of conflicts where children are harmed.

In 2024-25, the UK funded UNICEF's Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, which is a vital tool in ensuring that perpetrators are held to account.