This week, the United Nations will hold an open debate on violations of children in wartime, and while this topic would seem morally clear, the debate is sure to be contentious. Earlier this month, with the U.N. Secretary-General Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, the armed forces of Israel, as well as Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad, join the armed forces of and armed groups in Russia, Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria, and Sudan as documented perpetrators of grave violations of the rights of children. In nearly 33,000 documented incidents, children were killed, starved, maimed, kidnapped, and recruited as soldiers in more than two dozen war zones.

The secretary-general’s annual report and its annexed list of perpetrators, the so-called “ list of shame,” have served as a unique and largely effective tool for identifying perpetrators and pressuring them to end violations and protect children in times of war. The report’s impact and credibility rely on applying the same standards to all parties across all armed conflicts. Protecting children from war should not be subject to political considerations. And yet, in this week’s debate perpetrators and their allies will surely disagree about the inclusion of parties that have harmed or killed children in war.

As a full-time advocate working for accountability for violations against the rights of children, I can say the global situation for children in conflict has never looked more dire. The U.N. secretary-general has recently reported that the proportion of children killed in 2023 tripled as compared with 2022, with 40% of global killings of children happening in Gaza. Leading child protection organizations have documented that 468 million children (or more than 1 in 6 children globally) live in areas affected by armed conflict. There has also never been the same level of witness to violations committed against the rights of children. Intense, bold campaigns in the news and on social media have captured the engagement and compassion of millions of people outside of war zones, resulting in calls for increased aid, intervention, and cease-fire.

The suffering and death of children in war—from the kidnapping of nine-month-old Kfir Bibas by Hamas, to the 46 Ukrainian children placed for adoption in Russia, to the Palestinian children with their names written in ink on their bodies so they can be identified when they die—have been incredibly brutal.

Parties involved in armed conflict must respect and........

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