Foreign Affairs
English
Submit an article
Back to Issue: No.3, 2026

International policy on the protection of children’s rights in conflict zones: The experience of Syria and Yemen

Liana Malkhasyan*, Garnik Safaryan

malkhasyanliana@gmail.com

Abstract

The relevance of this study is driven by the growing urgency of protecting children’s rights in armed conflict zones against the backdrop of an increasing number of protracted wars and the growing complexity of international humanitarian response efforts. This study aimed to analyse the effectiveness of international mechanisms for the protection of children’s rights in armed conflicts, using the cases of Syria and Yemen as examples. The methodological framework of the study was based on an interdisciplinary approach combining structural-institutional and comparative analysis with the analysis of international legal norms. These findings also showed that international policy for the protection of children’s rights in Syria and Yemen is primarily reactive and is largely oriented towards eliminating the humanitarian consequences and not the causes of structural child rights violations. According to the study, the main obstacles to the efficient use of international mechanisms are the unavailability of a number of large areas for humanitarian operations, for the implementation of monitoring and inspection missions; political differences in the United Nations Security Council; the effects of sanctions and the blockade regime; and the lack of sufficient mechanisms for ensuring accountability for grave violations of children’s rights. Comparative analysis showed that in Syria, the most important factors determining the situation are the military and political nature of the conflict in many countries and the dependence of humanitarian operations on the international political situation, and in Yemen, this is a combination of economic and political crisis, blockade and degradation of government institutions. It can be concluded that the effectiveness of international policy on the protection of children from armed conflicts could increase if humanitarian activities are depoliticised, control and enforcement mechanisms are strengthened, and there is a close connection between humanitarian operations and political efforts for the de-escalation of conflicts. The results of this research may be used to understand the limits and opportunities of international law and institutions regarding the protection of the most vulnerable. They could also contribute to the formulation of more effective humanitarian policy tools in conditions of armed confrontation

Keywords

humanitarian access; monitoring; sanctions; politicisation; recruitment

References

  1. Abbara, A., Marzouk, M., & Mkhallalati, H. (2021). Health system fragmentation and the Syrian conflict. In J. Bseiso, M. Hofman & J. Whittall (Eds.), Everybody’s war: The politics of aid in the Syria crisis (Chapter 2). New York: Oxford Academic. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197514641.003.0003.
  2. Ahmad, M., & Khawaja, H.A. (2025). US role in Yemen conflict: Implications for regional stability and global leadership. Pakistan Social Sciences Review, 9(2), 389-401. doi: 10.35484/pssr.2025(9-II)29.
  3. Al-Adeimi, S. (2021). The blockade on Yemen. In S. Davis & I. Ness (Eds.), Sanctions as war: Anti-imperialist perspectives on American geo-economic strategy (pp. 260-272). Leiden: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004501201_016.
  4. Alfatlawi, A.A. (2025). Legal implications arising from the children’s involvement in armed conflicts across the Middle East conflicts. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.5131219.
  5. Alhuniti, R.A.R. (2023). The impact of foreign intervention in the Yemeni crisis (2015-2020). Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences, 50(6), 488-505. doi: 10.35516/hum.v50i6.2597.
  6. Alkhalil, M., Ekzayez, A., Meagher, K., Alaref, M., Turkmani, R., Abbara, A., Al Zoubi, Z., El Achi, N., & Patel, P. (2024). An analysis of humanitarian and health aid harmonisation over a decade (2011-2019) of the Syrian conflict. BMJ Global Health, 9(10), article number e014687. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-014687.
  7. Aptel, C., Leone, M., & Siegrist, S. (2025). Child protection under attack in armed conflict. In S. Bissell & A.K. Shiva Kumar (Eds.), Protecting the world’s children: Public health, human rights, capabilities (pp. 51-68). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192844071.003.0004.
  8. Asghar, U., Hassan Javed, M., & Haider, A. (2025). The application of international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflicts: Examining the challenges and complexities of applying IHL in non-international armed conflicts. Social Science Review Archives, 3(2), 667-680. doi: 10.70670/sra.v3i2.656.
  9. Ba-Break, M., Donnelly, S., Saleh, M., Kaity, A.M., Alwaqedi, A., Badheeb, A.M., Mohammed, N.A., Alosaimi, A.N., Al-Haddi, J.A., & Annuzaili, D.A. (2024). COVID-19 surveillance in fragile health systems, armed conflict and humanitarian crisis, the case of Yemen. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 18(3), 465-477. doi: 10.1080/20479700.2024.2318508.
  10. Baroud, S., Karsavuran, O.C., & Atar, E. (2024). Navigating humanitarian aid in Syria: Challenges, complexities, and paths to sustainable solutions. Insight Turkey, 26(2), 139-161. doi: 10.25253/99.2024262.9.
  11. Bartolini, G., & Poulopoulou, S. (2025). Reporting activities under international humanitarian law. International Review of the Red Cross, 107(930), 961-998. doi: 10.1017/s1816383125100635.
  12. Bolborici, A.M. (2024). Children’s rights in conflict according to the international humanitarian law. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov. Series VII: Social Sciences and Law, 16(65), 15-20. doi: 10.31926/but.ssl.2023.16.65.3.2.
  13. Chernobuk, V.V. (2025). Protection of children’s rights in military conflict conditions: International experience and Ukrainian realities. Analytical and Comparative Jurisprudence, 2, 1291-1294. doi: 10.24144/2788-6018.2025.02.195.
  14. Convention on the Rights of the Child. (1989, November). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/52626/file.
  15. Daniele, L. (2024). Incidentality of the civilian harm in international humanitarian law and its Contra Legem antonyms in recent discourses on the laws of war. Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 29(1), 21-54. doi: 10.1093/jcsl/krae004.
  16. Daw, M.A. (2021). The impact of armed conflict on the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in Libya, Syria and Yemen. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, article number 667364. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.667364.
  17. Dureab, F., Hussain, T., Sheikh, R., Al-Dheeb, N., Al-Awlaqi, S., & Jahn, A. (2021). Forms of health system fragmentation during conflict: the case of Yemen. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, article number 659980. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.659980.
  18. Elayah, M., & Fenttiman, M. (2021). Humanitarian aid and war economies: The case of Yemen. The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, 16(1), 52-65. doi: 10.15355/epsj.16.1.52.
  19. Eleftheriadou, M. (2021). Non-state armed actors and contested sovereignties in internationalized civil wars: The case of Yemen’s civil war (2015-). International Politics, 60, 134-153. doi: 10.1057/s41311-021-00279-3.
  20. Falqui, L., Li, F. & Xue, Y. (2024). Global health diplomacy in humanitarian action. Conflict and Health, 18, article number 46. doi: 10.1186/s13031-024-00605-5.
  21. General Assembly Security Council. (2022). Letter dated 8 September 2022 from the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council. Retrieved from https://docs.un.org/en/A/76/950.
  22. General Assembly Security Council. (2025). Children and armed conflict. Report of the Secretary-General. Retrieved from https://docs.un.org/en/S/2025/247.
  23. Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. (1949, August). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf.
  24. Guiziou, F. (2024). Assessing the effects of a war on a container terminal: Lessons from Al Hudaydah, Yemen. TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, 18(1), 195-204. doi: 10.12716/1001.18.01.20.
  25. Humanitarian Implementation Plan (HIP). Yemen. (2024, July). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/funding/hip2024/echo_yem_bud_2024_91000_v3.pdf.
  26. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). (2025). Semi-annual activity report. Retrieved from https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/2025-10/ICRC-Yemen-Semi-Annual_Activity_Report_2025-Digital_Version-EN.pdf.
  27. Oberg, C., Goldhagen, J., & Spencer, N. (2023). Renewing our commitment to protect children experiencing armed conflict. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 59(3), 427-430. doi: 10.1111/jpc.16367.
  28. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). (n.d.). Syrian Arab Republic. Retrieved from https://www.unocha.org/syrian-arab-republic.
  29. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. (2025). Syria: Children continue to be affected by years of conflict, while the political transition brings hope for children. Retrieved from https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/2025/11/syria-children-continue-to-be-affected-by-years-of-conflict-while-the-political-transition-brings-hope-for-children-2/.
  30. Østby, G., Rustad, S.A., Haer, R., & Arasmith, A. (2023). Children at risk of being recruited for armed conflict, 1990-2020. Children & Society, 37(2), 524-543. doi: 10.1111/chso.12609.
  31. Pylypyshyna, I.I., & Turchenko, O.G. (2022). Ensuring children’s rights in the context of armed conflict in Ukraine. Analytical and Comparative Jurisprudence, 2, 64-69. doi: 10.24144/2788-6018.2022.02.11.
  32. Rabeeah, A.A.A., Abdullah Almuhanna, J., Ebrahim, S.H., Memish, Z.A. (2025). Reintegration of children previously associated with conflicts – case study from Yemen. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health, 15, article number 32. doi: 10.1007/s44197-025-00375-0.
  33. Rayes, D. (2025). The foreign aid freeze poses risks to US interests in Syria. Retrieved from https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-foreign-aid-freeze-poses-risks-to-us-interests-in-syria/.
  34. Resolution 1612. (2005, July). Retrieved from https://docs.un.org/en/S/RES/1612(2005).
  35. Resolution 1882. (2009, August). Retrieved from https://docs.un.org/en/s/res/1882(2009).
  36. Resolution 1998. (2011, July). Retrieved from https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/CAC%20S%20RES%201998.pdf.
  37. Resolution 2225. (2015, June). Retrieved from https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/795098?v=pdf.
  38. Sari, A. (2020). Legal resilience in an era of grey zone conflicts and hybrid threats. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(6), 846-867. doi: 10.1080/09557571.2020.1752147.
  39. Seatzu, F. (2021). The monitoring and reporting mechanism for grave violations of children’s rights. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law Online, 24(1), 362-398. doi: 10.1163/18757413_02401012.
  40. Seven, Ü. (2024). Humanitarianism as a tool of statecraft: Contested authority, sovereign violence, and humanity in the Syrian civil war. Disasters, 49(1), article number e12659. doi: 10.1111/disa.12659.
  41. Sheikh, E.Y.S., Alshageri, S., & Hamood, M.A.H.H. (2022). Factors influencing children armed recruitment in Yemen. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1), article number 2108137. doi: 10.1080/23311886.2022.2108137.
  42. Solf, W.A. (2012). Protection of civilians against the effects of hostilities under customary international law and under protocol. In W.H.V. Heinegg (Ed.), The conduct of hostilities in international humanitarian law, Volume I (pp. 3-21). London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003417255-3.
  43. U.S. Department of State. (n.d.). Syria sanctions. Retrieved from https://2021-2025.state.gov/syria-sanctions/?safe=1.
  44. UNICEF. (2025a). Geneva Palais briefing note on the situation for children in Yemen after 10 years of conflict. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/geneva-palais-briefing-note-situation-children-yemen-after-10-years-conflict.
  45. UNICEF. (2025b). Humanitarian action for children – Yemen. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/165851/file/2025-HAC-Yemen.pdf.
  46. UNICEF. (n.d.). The situation of children in Syria. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/syria/situation-children-syria.
  47. United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Yemen. (2022). United Nations Yemen sustainable development cooperation framework 2022-2024. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-06/UNSDCF%20YEMEN%202022-2024%2030052022.pdf.
  48. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2025). The impact of the conflict in Syria. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2025-02/undp-sy-seia-final-24022025_compressed.pdf.
  49. United Nations. (2023). Security Council rejects two draft resolutions aimed at renewing cross-border humanitarian operations in Syria’s north-west. Retrieved from https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15348.doc.htm.
  50. Zharovska I. (2022). Efficiency of the rules of warfare and norms of international humanitarian law: Analysis of modern doctrine. Bulletin of the National University “Lviv Polytechnic”, 9(4), 51-56. doi: 10.23939/law2022.36.051.

Suggested citation

Malkhasyan, L., & Safaryan, G. (2026). International policy on the protection of children’s rights in conflict zones: The experience of Syria and Yemen. Foreign Affairs, 36(3), 114-127. https://doi.org/10.59214/ua.fa/3.2026.114
English
Submit an article