Addis Ababa and New York, 16 June 2026: On the occasion of the Day of the African Child 2026, under the theme “Ensuring universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene for every child in Africa,” the AU Special Envoy on Children Affected by Armed Conflict, H.E. Ambassador Jainaba Jagne, and the UN Under-Secretary-General, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Vanessa Frazier, underscore that access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is a child protection, humanitarian, development and peace and security imperative.
For children caught in armed conflict, access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) can determine whether they survive, remain healthy, stay in school, preserve their dignity and recover from violence. When WASH systems are attacked, obstructed or allowed to collapse, children are vulnerable to disease, malnutrition, displacement, school disruption, sexual violence and exploitation. A significant number of children are currently at catastrophic risk of death from hunger, acute malnutrition and waterborne diseases in hyper-conflict zones where the total absence of clean water and basic health care can mean death within days. [1] When WASH systems fail, children’s rights also fail. Protecting children in conflict, therefore, requires attention not only to direct acts of violence, but also to the systems that sustain their survival, dignity, education, participation and full recovery.
Grave violations against children in armed conflict also undermine children’s access to WASH. These rights violations actively dismantle children’s access to life-sustaining infrastructure. The scale of these violations has reached unprecedented heights, with United Nations-verified grave violations against children exceeding 41,300 in 2024, marking a staggering 25% increase in recent cycles. [2] Attacks on schools, hospitals and essential civilian infrastructure damage or destroy water and sanitation systems. Denial of humanitarian access prevents the delivery of safe water, sanitation services, hygiene supplies, menstrual health materials, water treatment supplies and technical support to repair damaged infrastructure. Sexual violence, abduction, displacement and insecurity make the act of collecting water or using sanitation facilities dangerous, especially for girls. Recruitment and use of children by armed forces or armed groups, abduction, family separation, and deprivation of liberty cut children off from safe, private and dignified WASH.
The lethal intersection of conflict, broken infrastructure, and disease is vividly illustrated by the active outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May 2026, the epidemic has rapidly expanded across more than 25 health zones in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, generating over 550 confirmed cases and 101 deaths in a matter of weeks. This highly volatile environment underscores how the collapse of water and sanitation systems directly drives child mortality. When water networks are sabotaged or allowed to fail amid conflict, schools and health clinics become zones of rapid transmission rather than safety.
We call on all parties to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law by protecting vital civilian infrastructure-water, sanitation, health, and education systems-essential to children’s survival. The intentional destruction, contamination or obstruction of water as a weapon of war is illegal and unconscionable. We demand that all parties grant immediate, safe and unimpeded access to humanitarian personnel so that safe water, sanitation services and critical health supplies can reach every child. The survival, dignity and future of Africa’s children depend on preserving and protecting the systems that sustain their lives.
“Access to water must never be deliberately denied, contaminated or instrumentalised in ways that endanger children.”
Parties must allow and facilitate safe, rapid, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access, including for WASH services, hygiene supplies, menstrual health materials and support to restore damaged systems.
At the continental level, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child provides a clear child rights anchor for this year’s Day of the African Child theme on WASH: Article 14 recognises every child’s right to the best attainable state of health, including the provision of safe drinking water and support for hygiene and environmental sanitation, while Article 22 reinforces the special protection owed to children affected by armed conflict. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Kampala Convention, international humanitarian law, the UN Security Council children and armed conflict framework, Agenda 2040 and Agenda 2063 further reinforce obligations to protect children, ensure humanitarian access, uphold accountability and build resilient systems for children in situations of conflict, displacement and fragility.
We urge AU Member States to move from recognition to implementation by adopting child-sensitive WASH laws, policies and standards; financing WASH in conflict-affected and underserved areas; regulating service providers; and ensuring WASH in schools, health facilities, places of detention, displacement settings and humanitarian contexts. States must ensure that WASH services for children are available, accessible, safe, affordable, acceptable, inclusive and child-responsive. They must also ensure child-friendly complaint, accountability and remedy mechanisms where children’s WASH-related rights are violated, and attacks on or obstruction of WASH infrastructure and services affecting children must be documented, investigated and addressed with urgency.
The gendered dimensions of WASH also require urgent attention. For girls in conflict and humanitarian settings, unsafe or inadequate WASH can turn daily survival into exposure to harm. Long distances to water points, unsafe routes, lack of private and sex-segregated sanitation, inadequate menstrual hygiene management and the absence of lighting or protective measures can deepen school exclusion, heighten exposure to sexual violence and exploitation, and undermine dignity, health and participation. WASH responses must be designed with girls and for girls, and integrated into child protection, education, health and humanitarian programming.
Universal access must mean that every child can safely reach, use and benefit from WASH facilities without discrimination. Children with disabilities must be able to access and use WASH facilities in homes, schools, health facilities, displacement sites and places of detention. Children deprived of liberty in the context of conflict, including those detained for alleged association with armed forces or armed groups, must never be invisible in WASH planning; children’s detention must remain a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period, while their reintegration must be prioritized. Safe water, sanitation and hygiene are essential to dignity, health and the prevention of further harm. WASH interventions must reduce protection risks and must not expose children to further harm.
In conflict-affected settings, climate-resilient WASH is an important component of conflict prevention and child protection. Across the Lake Chad Basin, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and other regions facing conflict and water insecurity, ecological degradation, displacement, livelihood disruption and pressure on community systems are converging in ways that heighten children’s protection risks. Deteriorating access to WASH should be treated as an early warning signal, including where unsafe water points, deteriorating and non-functional school WASH services, disease outbreaks, displacement pressure or long distances to water sources indicate deepening risks, particularly for girls and children in fragile communities. In post-conflict reconstruction and development, restoring WASH in schools, health facilities, communities and child protection systems must prevent secondary harm and enable children’s full recovery.
“We commit to strengthening the cooperation between the AU and the UN on children and armed conflict, recognizing the urgent need to end and prevent grave violations against children across Africa. Children and armed conflict must be at the centre of peace and security efforts, including in analysis, early warning, mediation, humanitarian advocacy, peace support operations, recovery planning, and accountability efforts. We further emphasize that responses for the protection of conflict-affected children must address WASH-related risks.” The two principals further stress that the Day of the African Child 2026 theme must be translated into concrete protection outcomes for children affected by armed conflict.
“Protecting children in conflict means protecting the systems that keep them alive,” said Under-Secretary-General Vanessa Frazier. “When water and sanitation systems are attacked, obstructed or allowed to collapse, children face disease, displacement, school disruption, sexual violence, exploitation and other cascading harms. Compliance with international law, prevention, humanitarian access and accountability must remain at the centre of our collective response.”
“For Africa’s children affected by conflict, WASH is not peripheral to peace and security. It is central to survival, dignity, protection and recovery,” said the AU Special Envoy Ambassador Jainaba. “The Day of the African Child 2026 must move us from commitments to implementation, through stronger Member State action, child-sensitive early warning, protection of essential infrastructure and climate-resilient recovery.”
[1] https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-148/en/
[2] Children and Armed Conflict Publications: Security Council Report 2026