A/HRC/34/44 6. Children’s rights to liberty and security of person were impacted by government security responses and many children were detained for their or their parents’ alleged association with armed groups. While advocacy has been successful and some children have been released, many more remained deprived of their liberty in situations of armed conflict. In the reporting period, the screening of civilians during military operations was also an emerging detention-related concern in a number of situations on the children and armed conflict agenda, which is elaborated upon in the present report. 7. In Afghanistan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, the right of children to health has been severely compromised by attacks on hospitals and health-care professionals. A number of highly publicized attacks have taken place in 2016, which are indicative of trends that have seen increasing numbers of attacks and threats of attacks on health care in recent years. The right of girls to education has also continued to suffer, with attacks or threats of attacks on schools, teachers and female pupils in situations such as in Iraq, Nigeria and the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as in Afghanistan and Mali. 8. Notwithstanding these pressing concerns and their impact on children, there has been progress in the last 12 months to protect the rights of children affected by armed conflict, which is described extensively in the report. This progress has included improvements in the normative framework, additional agreements with parties to conflict to protect children, and concrete action taken to separate and release children who were allegedly associated with parties to conflict. A. Impact of conflict on girls 9. An important dimension of the Graça Machel study was the attention given to the distinct effects of armed conflict upon girls as compared to boys. In the past 20 years, there has been progress in addressing the impact of conflict on girls, including through developments in the normative framework and enhanced accountability efforts for the crimes of rape and other forms of sexual violence. However, a significant number of the challenges that were identified in the study two decades ago still remain, as the Human Rights Council acknowledged during the reporting period when it expressed outrage at the persistence and pervasiveness of all forms of violence against girls worldwide. 1 10. Despite the significant efforts to end impunity, girls continue to be targeted in incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, often in order to terrorize, humiliate and weaken their communities. Armed conflicts are also characterized by a breakdown of the rule of law as well as of community structures; this exacerbates the vulnerability of girls to sexual violence, as armed elements can take advantage of the vacuum to commit human rights abuses. Violations of this nature are frequently compounded by an inadequate response to help survivors as well as children born of war. While the provision of dedicated services for girls has improved in recent years, there are still significant gaps in the form of non-existent, limited or disrupted access to essential services in some situations of armed conflict, as a result of a lack of medical workers, supplies and the necessary infrastructure and also due to insecurity and restrictions on movement. For example, the Special Representative notes that in 2016 in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, girls who have been abducted and suffered sexual violence by armed groups have rarely been able to access services, due to ongoing conflict. 11. In situations of displacement, girls are particularly vulnerable. In addition to discrimination related to race, religion or ethnicity, girls are also often subject to abuses based on their sex, and therefore to multiple forms of discrimination. For example, 1 4 See Human Rights Council resolution 32/19.