Close to one child in five worldwide today lives in a conflict zone or is fleeing one, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. Behind the figure are classrooms moved down into basements, where children learn to count between two alerts, and lines of families walking towards a border with whatever they could carry. President Macky Sall wants the protection of these children to bind every party at war; his candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General carries that commitment.

The most ratified treaty in the world. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, has been ratified by almost every state. No other text has gathered such agreement, and none is so often violated where the guns speak.

Six grave violations. Each year the United Nations records children killed or maimed, recruited, abducted, subjected to sexual violence, denied humanitarian aid, or whose school and hospital were attacked. The verified cases number in the tens of thousands, year after year.

The school as shelter. A school that stays open in wartime protects children from recruitment and forced labour, and keeps a generation able to learn. An international declaration commits states to keep schools free of any military use; its application remains uneven.

What the Secretariat can carry. Each year, the Secretary-General's report on children and armed conflict names the armies and groups that kill, recruit or maim children. That list is read in the capitals, and governments have lobbied to be taken off it. A Secretary-General can draw it up on the facts verified by field teams alone, and keep every listed party on it until the violations have stopped. Macky Sall makes it a rule of his candidacy.

Experience in multilateral negotiation. Twelve years as head of state and the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022 underpin these commitments. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace, security and development conceived together; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.

Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Secretary-General's annual reports on children and armed conflict are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net