From framework to Failure: the Implementation Gap in protecting Children in Conflict Zones - Evidence from Syria and South Sudan

Carolina Falsitta, Joseph Maurice, Emma Pardo Monroy, and Cezara Pencea

Despite extensive international policy and legal frameworks to protect children in armed conflict, violations continue to persist. This paper examines the implementation gap between global commitments to protect children in conflict zones and the reality when said protection is implemented in these areas through comparative case studies of South Sudan and Syria. It analyses how education, safety and recovery are intended to function as the pillars of child protection under international law, yet repeatedly fail in conflict zones. South Sudan shows how protection collapses in the absence of state capacity, while Syria highlights how violations can persist despite ‘functioning’ institutions due to political impunity. This paper argues that the principal barriers to effective child protection are not deficiencies in existing frameworks, but rather impunity, fragmented enforcement, and underinvestment in sustained, integrated responses.