Spokesman Report

Islamabad: The Committee on the Rights of the Child opened its one hundredth session in Geneva from 12 to 30 January 2026 at a moment of profound concern for children worldwide. In his opening statement, Mahamane Cissé-Gouro, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that the Committee was convening at an exceptionally difficult time for children’s rights. Across the globe, children are increasingly affected by violations of international humanitarian law and by growing challenges to their fundamental rights. At the same time, international support for human rights mechanisms is shrinking, while treaty bodies face unprecedented financial and political constraints. Against this backdrop, he stressed, the Committee’s work has never been more vital.

Sophie Kiladze, Chair of the Committee, described the one hundredth session as a truly remarkable milestone. Over more than 35 years, the Committee has reviewed hundreds of State party reports, issued thousands of recommendations, adopted 26 general comments, convened days of general discussion, conducted inquiries, adopted individual decisions, and organized numerous events promoting the child as a rights holder. Yet, despite these sustained efforts, Ms. Kiladze acknowledged that the suffering of millions of children remains beyond imagination. \

We all know that the question of children’s rights involves deep moral complexity. All children are born with equal moral worth and deserve an equal chance in life. Yet perfect equality is unattainable in practice, requiring societies to seek fair and humane alternatives that protect the most vulnerable. Nowhere is this challenge more visible than in situations of protracted armed conflict.

In this context, the plight of children in Indian occupied Kashmir demands urgent attention. The heavy military presence—estimated at approximately 900,000 Indian troops, number cited by internationally renowned Indian novelist Arundhati Roy—has profoundly altered the daily reality, perceptions, and psychological development of Kashmiri children. Many grow up in an atmosphere of constant fear: fear of midnight raids, warrantless searches, arbitrary detention of young boys under draconian laws such as the Public Safety Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, physical abuse of elders, and violations of the dignity and safety of women within their households. Such experiences leave lasting scars on young minds.

Armed conflict in Kashmir has affected all inhabitants of the valley, but its most severe consequences are borne by children. Exposure to violence fills young hearts with anger, frustration, and helplessness, depriving them of peace of mind. Health—one of the most valuable assets of childhood—is severely compromised, as many children suffer from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The conflict has robbed them of a carefree childhood and imposed adult responsibilities far too early. Some children are placed in orphanages after losing their caretakers at the very moment when parental support is most crucial. Education, essential for the future development of any society, is repeatedly disrupted, producing long-term consequences for both individuals and the broader community.

Despite these hardships, the children of Kashmir possess immense qualities and capacities. What they urgently need are reliable and dependable educational spaces. No child’s education should be allowed to suffer because of insecurity, unpredictability, violence, or administrative neglect. Protecting education is a critical first step toward safeguarding Kashmir’s most valuable asset—its young minds—and ensuring that the next generation inherits not despair, but opportunity, learning, and hope.

Numerous credible Indian and international organizations have documented the psychological toll of conflict on Kashmiri children. In early May 2025, a team from the child psychiatry department at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Kashmir, supported by UNICEF India, visited psychosocial mental health camps in Uri, Kashmir. Over two weeks, clinicians observed dozens of children exhibiting symptoms of panic, anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, irritability, and persistent fear of renewed violence. UNICEF has repeatedly warned that armed conflict is particularly traumatic for children and can result in long-term mental health consequences if left unaddressed.

Media and clinical reports corroborate these findings. Mumbai Mirror reported in September 2025 on a 16-year-old girl from Kupwara who presented with severe anxiety following shelling in her neighborhood after the May 10, 2025, ceasefire between India and Pakistan. According to professionals at the Child Guidance and Wellbeing Centre in Srinagar—the only fully operational government facility dedicated to child and adolescent mental health in Kashmir—girls often present in greater numbers, as they tend to express distress more openly. Children as young as eleven have reported intense fear of being alone, even while using the washroom, due to constant exposure to violent imagery and war-related media.

Recent data further underscores the gravity of the crisis. The 2022–2023 annual report of the Child Guidance and Wellbeing Centre at IMHANS documents a sharp rise in mental health cases among children aged 0–18, with the highest number in the 7–14 age group. Moreover, the National Crime Records Bureau reported in December 2023 that Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest number of attempted suicide cases in India in 2022, a deeply alarming indicator of widespread psychological distress.

As the Committee on the Rights of the Child commemorates its one hundredth session, this historic milestone must serve not only as a moment of reflection, but as a call to renewed moral and institutional responsibility. For the children of conflict-affected regions such as Kashmir, declarations, general comments, and recommendations—however valuable—remain hollow unless they translate into tangible protection, accountability, and relief on the ground.

The Committee is uniquely mandated to ensure that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is not reduced to an aspirational document but upheld as a living instrument of protection for children trapped in situations of prolonged occupation and armed conflict. The children of Kashmir continue to experience violations of their most basic rights: the right to life, the right to education, the right to physical and mental health, and the right to grow up free from fear and violence. These violations are neither isolated nor incidental; they are systemic, long-standing, and well-documented by credible national and international sources.

We therefore urge the Committee on the Rights of the Child  to: (a) give sustained and heightened attention to the situation of children in Jammu and Kashmir in its dialogue with the State party; (b) explicitly address the psychological trauma, disruption of education, arbitrary detention, and family separation affecting Kashmiri children in its concluding observations; (c) call for unrestricted access for independent child-protection and mental-health mechanisms, including UN agencies and humanitarian organizations; and (d) recommend concrete, time-bound measures to ensure compliance with the Convention and its Optional Protocols.

Children living under conflict cannot wait for political settlements to enjoy their rights. International law does not permit the suspension of childhood. If the Convention on the Rights of the Child is to retain its credibility and moral authority, it must speak most forcefully for those children who are least able to speak for themselves. The children of Kashmir are entitled not to sympathy alone, but to protection, justice, and a future free from fear.