The key facts

  • The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on digital threats to children in armed conflicts
  • The resolution's author is Greece, which chaired the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in 2025
  • The document calls on states to comply with international law and develop children's digital literacy

Unanimous adoption of the resolution

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution devoted to the use of digital technologies to commit violations and abuses against children in situations of armed conflict. The document was authored by Greece, which chaired the Council's Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in 2025.

Content of the document

The resolution underscores the need to ensure children's digital literacy so that they can recognize risks online and help prevent violations before they occur. The document also calls on member states to improve domestic compliance with obligations under international law aimed at ending and preventing violations of children's rights, including violations committed, facilitated, or exacerbated by means of digital technologies.

Statement by the Greek representative

Before the vote, Greece's Permanent Representative to the UN, Aglaia Balta, said the Council must not remain silent about the digital dimension of grave violations. “The question is not whether the Council should address the digital dimension of grave violations, but whether we can afford to remain silent while others exploit it,” she said. According to her, the resolution strengthens the existing framework by ensuring that violations are recorded regardless of the means used: “Recruitment via a smartphone is still recruitment. A mandate that does not see where violations begin is a mandate that lags behind.”

Assessment of the document's significance

Balta described the text as a starting point: “This resolution does not close the chapter on this urgent issue — it opens it. It is a seed that must grow, because digital technologies are changing every aspect of human life, and above all the lives of children.” She also recalled that thirty years ago the international community decided that children caught up in war would no longer be invisible, and that today it is necessary to make sure they do not disappear in digital space.