NEW YORK CITY: Closed schools across the Gulf this week are a stark reminder that when conflicts escalate, children are the first to pay the price — with their classrooms, their safety and, too often, their lives — the UN’s secretary general told the Security Council on Monday as the war with Iran entered its third day.
With military confrontations involving Iranian and US-Israeli forces continuing to escalate, causing widespread disruption in the region and growing concerns over safety, authorities in several Gulf states, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, ordered schools to remain shut and shift to remote learning. The decision reflects the broader toll on daily life as geopolitical tensions cause ripples throughout the region.
Reports emerged over the weekend from southern Iran of a strike on an elementary school in the town of Minab that allegedly killed dozens of children. US officials said they were looking into the claims.
During an address to the Security Council on Monday, Rosemary A. DiCarlo delivered remarks on behalf of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning that the world is witnessing the highest number of armed conflicts since the Second World War, and the highest civilian death tolls in decades. The meeting was presided over by First Lady Melania Trump, as the US holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member Security Council this month.
“When conflicts erupt, children are among those most severely affected,” DiCarlo said. One in five children worldwide, about 473 million in total, live in or are fleeing from conflict zones, she noted, citing data from UNICEF.
Incidents of grave violations against children that have been verified by the UN rose by 25 percent between 2023 and 2024, she added, while cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence increased by 35 percent, according to the secretary-general’s annual report on children and armed conflict.
“These horrific figures should impel us to do more to protect children in conflict,” DiCarlo said. She also paid tribute to Melania Trump for highlighting the plight of children in war, and for her engagement with efforts to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.
Beyond the immediate threats conflicts pose to life and limb, they also deprive children of education and future opportunities, DiCarlo warned. About 234 million youngsters in crisis and conflict settings need educational support, and 85 million are completely out of school, according to UNICEF.
“In violent conflicts, schools can be one of the only safe spaces,” DiCarlo said, adding that they can help protect children from recruitment by armed groups, trafficking and other exploitation, while also providing healthcare services and psychosocial support.
Yet schools, teachers and education infrastructure continue to come under attack in times of conflict. In 2024, the UN verified 2,374 attacks against schools and hospitals, most of them in Ukraine, Israel, occupied Palestinian territories, and Haiti. Many more cases go unverified due to lack of access, DiCarlo said.
She recalled the provisions of Security Council Resolution 2601, adopted in 2021, which calls on all parties in conflicts to immediately cease all attacks against schools, children and teachers, and to safeguard and promote the right to education, in line with the principles of international humanitarian law.
The challenges involved in delivering quality education in war zones are immense, DiCarlo said. Key infrastructure, including classrooms, electricity supplies and digital connectivity, is often damaged or at risk, and there is a shortage of 44 million teachers in conflict settings worldwide.
Digital learning can help bridge gaps when schools are closed or inaccessible, she added, highlighting initiatives such as UNICEF’s “Learning Passport,” which was developed with Microsoft and provides 10 million children in 47 countries with access to mobile-learning platforms.
She also cited the Instant Network Schools program, a joint project of the Vodafone Foundation and the UN Refugee Agency, which enables refugee children and teachers in marginalized communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan to access the internet and digital educational content.
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, where 2.2 million girls are excluded from education, UNESCO is mobilizing digital technologies to bring learning into homes, reaching nearly 9,000 school communities, DiCarlo added.
However, she warned that children in conflict zones faced heightened online risks, including exploitation, trafficking, radicalization and digital recruitment by armed groups. Digital education initiatives must therefore incorporate child-protection safeguards at every stage, she said, and governments should strengthen legal and policy frameworks to help protect children’s rights online, in line with international human rights law.
Funding for education in emergencies has dropped by 24 percent despite the growing needs, DiCarlo noted, and she urged member states to help close the gap.
“The most effective way to protect children from conflict is to prevent and end wars,” she said. “Building peace is at the heart of what the United Nations does. We must all work together toward this goal.”