The Six Grave Violations against Children during Armed Conflict: The Legal Foundation

The six grave violations against children during times of conflict, enumerated by the Security Council in its resolutions, form the basis of the Council's architecture in protecting children during war. Monitoring and Reporting mechanisms set up around the world use this framework to gather evidence of grave violations against children in reporting to the Council. This Working Paper attempts to analyse the six grave violations more deeply, exploring their basis in international law. In doing so, we hope to bring clarity to the issues concerned and to strengthen the arguments of child protection partners as they confront these violations in their field of work.