Conflict-related sexual violence against children: Legal frameworks, patterns of harm, and pathways to prevention and recovery

Armed conflict exposes girls and boys to some of the most severe and enduring forms of harm, with conflict-related sexual violence constituting one of the gravest yet least adequately addressed violations against children. This paper examines the scale, forms and consequences of conflict-related sexual violence affecting children, situating these abuses within broader patterns of war-related destruction that undermine children’s physical health, mental well-being and developmental trajectories across the life course. Drawing on international legal frameworks, empirical research, and documented cases from recent and ongoing conflicts, the analysis demonstrates that sexual violence against children is neither inevitable nor uniform, but shaped by specific political, organizational and social conditions. The paper reviews the international legal regime prohibiting sexual violence against children while highlighting persistent gaps between legal norms and implementation. It documents a wide range of violations affecting girls and boys, including rape, sexual slavery, sexual torture, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, and violence affecting pregnant girls, foetuses, neonates, and children born of wartime sexual violence. The paper emphasizes patterns of under-reporting, gendered assumptions and data gaps – particularly regarding boys, children with disabilities and children of diverse gender identities. The paper concludes by emphasizing that conflict-related sexual violence against children is preventable and that effective responses require more than legal prohibition alone. Prevention, protection, accountability and recovery depend on sustained investment in health, justice, education and social systems; survivor-centred and context-specific approaches; and efforts to address stigma, social exclusion and long-term developmental harm. By centring children’s lived experiences and life-course impacts, the paper argues for responses that move beyond emergency intervention toward durable protection, dignity and inclusion for child survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.