India, April 23 -- Meaningful action to prevent the use of explosive weapons in populated areas could reduce the number of child casualties in conflicts by nearly half, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

UNICEF warned that as urban warfare increases, the use of weapons designed for open battlefields are now a common reality in cities, towns and villages, with devastating effects on their young residents.

Between 2018 and 2022, explosive weapons were responsible for 49.8 per cent of the more than 47,500 instances of children killed and maimed that were verified by the UN in more than 24 conflict zones globally, with the vast majority occurring in populated areas.

Irrefutable evidence

The evidence is irrefutable. When explos...