UN security council adopts resolution on digital threats to children in conflict

UN Security Council members sit at a round table in the Security Council Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 17 November 2025 (issued 18 November 2025). The Security Council passed the US-backed resolution, which establishes an international force to restore order in Gaza, protect civilians, and open the way for large-scale aid and rebuilding. The measure received 13 votes in favor and none against, while Russia and China abstained amid concerns that Russia might veto the text, according to the UN. EPA/OLGA HAMILTON: The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Monday addressing how digital technologies are used to commit violations and abuses against children in armed conflict, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

The resolution, penned by Greece, also stressed the need to provide children with digital literacy so they can identify online risks and help prevent violations before they occur.

The measure urged member states to improve domestic compliance with their obligations under international law to end and prevent violations and abuses against children, including those committed, facilitated or amplified through digital technologies.

Greece chaired the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in 2025.

Speaking before the vote, Greece's UN envoy Aglaia Balta said the Council must not stay silent on the digital dimension of grave violations.

"The question before us is not whether the Council should address the digital dimension of grave violations, but whether it can afford to remain silent while others exploit it," she said.

Balta stressed that the resolution reinforces the existing framework by ensuring it captures violations regardless of the means used.

"Recruitment through a smartphone is still recruitment. A mandate that cannot see where violations begin is a mandate that falls behind," she said.

Describing the text as a starting point, Balta said, "This resolution does not close the chapter on this urgent issue; it opens it. It is a seed, one that must grow as digital technologies reshape every aspect of human life, and above all, the lives of children."

"Thirty years ago, the international community resolved that children caught in war would no longer be invisible. Today, we must make sure they do not vanish in the digital space," she added.