News and Public Information

Press Release

U.N. Report Calls for Ending Violence against Children

Governments, Communities and Families are Failing in their Duty to Protect the Young

Washington, D.C., March 6, 2007 (PAHO)—Governments around the world must do more to protect children from violence, which has negative effects on child development and exacts a significant economic and social toll, says the United Nations' World Report on Violence against Children, presented today at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Only a small proportion of violence against children is reported and investigated, and in many parts of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean, there are no systems for reporting, investigating and prosecuting violence against children, the report says.

"For me, it is very shocking to see the high level of acceptability of violence against children, not just socially, but legally," said Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, independent expert and leader of the U.N. study. "This is a key challenge: how to overcome the acceptability of violence against children." Pinheiro, who presented the report at PAHO today, was asked to lead the study by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"Family units are the best providers of physical and emotional care for children," Pinheiro writes in the report's introduction. "Schools have a fundamental role in ensuring the development of children's potential while protecting them. But it is Governments that have the responsibility to build a solid legal framework and to provide the support needed by families, schools and communities to adequately fulfill their role."

The report shows clearly that "our planet is not a safe place," said Richard Van West Charles, acting deputy director of PAHO, at today's presentation. "No society can be defined as safe, as this report shows."

Violence against children-including physical, sexual and emotional violence-is pervasive around the world, but the chronic lack of data on the problem undermines understanding and action, says the report. Data that do exist almost certainly underestimate the problem. According to the report:

• An estimated 53,000 deaths of children worldwide in 2002 were homicides.
• Some 150 million girls under 18 and 73 million boys have been victims of forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence.
• Between 100 million and 140 million girls and women have been subjected to some form of genital mutilation.
• Of the 218 million children who were working in 2004, 5.7 million were in forced or bonded labor in 2000; 1.8 million were in prostitution or pornography; and 1.2 million were victims of human trafficking.
• Each year, as many as 275 million children worldwide are estimated to witness domestic violence. This exposure has both short and long-term negative effects on children's development.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of children who have witnessed violence in the home is between 11.3 million and 25.5 million.

Data from the report's annex also show that Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest rates of homicide among 15- to 17-year-olds, with an average 22.3 homicides (37.7 boys and 6.5 girls) per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 3.7 per 100,000 in Europe, 12.6 in Africa, 2.7 in Asia, and 4.0 in North America.

But Alberto Concha-Eastman, PAHO regional advisor on violence prevention, said there is also "good news" in the U.N. report. "Studies from around the world confirm that children who receive love and care in childhood are less likely to become perpetrators or victims of violence as adults," he said.

Tolerating violence

The report notes that different cultures accept violence against children to varying degrees. Few perpetrators-who are often family members-are brought to justice.

"In many cases parents, who should protect their children, are silent if the violence is perpetrated by a spouse or other family member, or a more powerful member of society such as an employer, a police officer, or community leader," says the report. "In societies where patriarchal notions of family 'honour' are valued above girls' human rights and well-being, an incident of rape or sexual violence can lead to ostracism of the victim, further violence and even death at the hands of her family."

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by nearly all the world's countries, requires governments to act forcefully to ensure that anyone who cares for a child refrains from abusive conduct. But many governments have been reluctant to intervene on issues involving the family. Pinheiro said that a priority area of action is to "strengthen national capacity to tackle violence against children, including the role of the judiciary and parliaments."

Ileana Arias, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said research demonstrates strong links between violence against children and later ill health and even premature death. Excessive and repeated stress releases chemicals that negatively affect brain architecture, she said. Children who are victims of violence are much more likely to have psychiatric problems and to engage in risky health behaviors.

"Damaged children grow up to be damaged adults, which leads to damaged societies," she said. "Child maltreatment is something we cannot ignore."

Arias added that the best approach to preventing violence is a positive approach. "Instead of telling people what not to do, we must focus on the good thing to do, which is to develop nurturing relationships," she said. She called for programs that provide education, training and social support for parents and families and the development of programs that create healthy social environments for children at the community level.

Recommendations

The 366-page World Report on Violence against Children, which is the first U.N. report of its kind, provides a panorama of violence against children worldwide and represents contributions from some 3,000 individuals, including children who came forward to speak about violence in their lives. The report's eight chapters cover violence against children in the home and family, schools, childcare and justice institutions, the workplace, and the community; international standards on violence against children; and recommendations for countries to improve their compliance.

The report calls for a "continuous commitment of human and financial resources to a broad and systematic framework to reduce and respond to violence against children, integrated into national planning processes." It specifically urges governments to:

• Review their legal frameworks to address violence against children more effectively
• Enforce existing laws that protect children and punish perpetrators
• Promote advocacy, awareness raising and training to increase understanding of violence against children and to help parents develop their parenting skills
• Support young people in their efforts to prevent and respond to violence.

"The central message of this report is that no violence against children can be justified and all violence against children can be and must be prevented," said Pinheiro.

Links:

• Violence against Children: U.N. Secretary-General's Study.
• "Youth Without Hope," from "The Violence Pandemic," Perspectives in Health, magazine of the Pan American Health Organization, 2003.
• Juvenile Violence in the Americas: Innovative Studies in Research, Diagnosis and Prevention, bilingual PAHO publication, 2000.