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The world is a dangerous place for children. Act now: http://www.unicef.org.uk/violence Across the world, children are facing an epidemic of violence. In war zones, on the streets of violent cities, but also, shockingly, in their own homes and schools. From babies to teenagers, they're beaten, raped, even murdered.

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Watch it for once and you would never even raise the hand to beat a child...

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David Beckham: Violence can mark children forever | #ENDviolence

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Violence against children is one of the biggest problems affecting families and societies. It happens all around the world, in all countries and societies; all too often it happens in the family. Read on to learn more about the problem of violence against children and effective approaches to ending it.
International law clearly establishes every child's right to protection against violence. That right is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Guidlines for the Alternative Care of Children and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Yet violence against children persists. Often, it remains hidden. Many cases are not reported or investigated.
The many faces of violence against children

Violence against children has many faces and forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, emotional abuse, and more.

Every five minutes a child dies from violence. [The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children 2016]

One billion children - over half of all children aged 2 to 17 - are estimated to have experienced emotional, physical and/or sexual violence. [WHO 2016]

One in 10 girls - 120 million - under the age of 20 has been subjected to forced sexual acts. [UNICEF 2014]

Nearly one in 10 children - 250 million worldwide - lives in a country affected by conflict. [UNICEF 2016]

At least one in six children entering an SOS Children's Villages' programme has previously experienced violence.

Risk factors for experiencing violence

Our experience and research show that children who are inadequately protected and cared for are at a higher risk of experiencing violence.

Devastating impact of violence

Violence can affect a child for the rest of their life, with severe consequences for a child's physical, psychological and mental health. Without adequate support and care, violence and trauma can have long-term effects on a child's development and future life.

Children who have experienced violence are also more likely to perpetuate the circle of violence, passing on patterns of violence to their peers or to future generations.

Therefore, ending violence against children is not only important for each child's rights, but also for healthy communities and societies.
Ending violence against children
Putting an end to all forms of violence - in families, at school, in communities, and in fragile states torn by conflict - is of crucial importance for children's rights and well-being, and for a sustainable future.

SOS Children's Villages works in a range of ways to help prevent and adequately respond to all forms of violence against children and adolescents and supports society to do so as well:

Supporting and strengthening families to foster stable and positive relationships

Empowering communities and raising awareness among national and community stakeholders to create safer environments for children

Strengthen support networks to help others respond appropriately to cases of child abuse and risks of violence

Providing nurturing environments and quality care to facilitate recovery and resilience of children who have experienced violence

Supporting care professionals so they can keep children from harm and help children who have suffered violence overcome their trauma

Child safeguarding through faithful implementation of the International Child Safeguarding Standards and providing safe ways to report abuse

SOS Children's Villages has also joined UNICEF and other key partners to establish the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, an advocacy initiative bringing together stakeholders from different areas to work together to end violence against children.

Learn more about how we stand up for children to protect their rights.

More

Find out more about the children we support through our programmes.

More

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Violence against children: A global problem

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Violence against children happens in all countries and societies; it does long-term damage to children, and has high costs for society. Read on to learn more about the widespread problem of violence against children, and effective approaches to ending it.

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PLAY AYYAMMA'S VIDEO: | bandwidth (Real player) Ayyamma lives in the slums of Bangalore, India. She has been working since she was eight, when she had to drop out of school after her father died. With the help of Concerned for Working Children, a local NGO, she managed to continue her education.

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UNICEF | Children's Rights & Emergency Relief Organization

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We're building a new UNICEF.org.
As we swap out old for new, pages will be in transition. Thanks for your patience - please keep coming back to see the improvements.

Hidden in Plain Sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children

Interpersonal violence - in all its forms - has a grave effect on children: Violence undermines children's future potential; damages their physical, psychological and emotional well-being; and in many cases, ends their lives. The report sheds light on the prevalence of different forms of violence against children, with global figures and data from 190 countries. Where relevant, data are disaggregated by age and sex, to provide insights into risk and protective factors.

Note: National police statistics for some countries record lower homicide levels than the statistical estimates shown here (which are derived from World Health Organization analyses for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study). The Governments of Jordan and Rwanda have advised that they consider WHO estimates published in this UNICEF report to be too high (see official letters for Jordan and Rwanda). WHO has undertaken new analyses for overall homicide death rates for Member States, which incorporate substantially greater use of national police statistics. The new WHO estimates are available on WHO website: Data on violence and injury prevention.

Errata: The online version of the report has been updated since its release to remove data on dating violence from Jordan.

Author: UNICEF Price: Free No. of pages: 202 Publication date: September 2014 Publisher: UNICEF ISBN: 978-92-806-4767-9

Available language versions

Complementary materials

View Hidden in Plain Sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children Executive Summary | English | French | Spanish | Arabic

View the companion publication Ending Violence Against Children: Six Strategies for Action | English

View A Statistical Snapshot of Violence Against Adolescent Girls | English

View the official UNICEF End Violence Against Children Global Initiative microsite

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Hidden in Plain Sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children

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We're building a new UNICEF.org. As we swap out old for new, pages will be in transition. Thanks for your patience - please keep coming back to see the improvements. Interpersonal violence - in all its forms - has a grave effect on children: Violence undermines children's future potential; damages their physical, psychological and emotional well-being; and in many cases, ends their lives.

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Violence against children. How does domestic and family violence affect children and young people?

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For concerned family and friends, understanding the trauma that domestic and family violence can cause is an important step in helping to support children who are affected.

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Read "Understanding Violence Against Women" at NAP.edu

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Violence against women is one factor in the growing wave of alarm about violence in American society. High-profile cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial call attention to the thousands of lesser-known but no less tragic situations in which women's lives are shattered by beatings or sexual assault.The search for solutions has highlighted not only what we know about violence against women but also what we do not know.

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13 Reasons to Make Violence Against Women Unacceptable - Breakthrough U.S.

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We'll start with the bad news. Violence against women affects everyone. When women are unequal and unsafe, they cannot fully participate in society.

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What is violence against women? - Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı

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Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı, şiddetle yüz yüze olan kadınlarla dayanışmayı sürdürmek, aile içindeki şiddete karşı mücadeleyi yaygınlaştırmak amacıyla 1990'da kuruldu.

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Many South Africans have decried the recent, terrible cases of rape.
By Professor Jane Duncan
South Africa's pervasive culture of hyper-masculinity has been blamed for the problem, as has the patriarchal nature of its society, where men remain the central figures around which society is organised in spite of the country's constitutionally enshrined commitment to gender equality.

But are these explanations adequate? Radical feminists tend to blame the problem on the continued existence of patriarchy, which doesn't shed much light on the subject, as this explanation fails to situate the problem in its historical context.

It also often frames the problem in essentialist terms, as though men are automatically the enemy and all women, irrespective of their social position, have common experiences of oppression and a shared interest in fighting it. Unless a deep, historically situated, understanding of the problem is developed, it will be impossible to develop lasting solutions.

What do we know about the problem? According to South Africa's crime statistics, rape is a growing problem: the only violent contact crime that is not declining in frequency, with the exception of 2011/ 2012 when rape decreased by 1,9%.

The majority of rapes are conducted by people who are known to the victim, and most attacks take place in or close to the victim's home. Very few rapes are reported, and if they are, many cases are withdrawn and conviction rates are low.

Most victims are young women.

But in spite of this bleak picture, there are other, highly positive tectonic shifts taking place in South Africa's social landscape which suggest that women are on the up and up.

On the whole, girls are doing better than boys at school (not a peculiarly South African phenomenon). The enrolment figures of women at undergraduate level in tertiary institutions have outstripped those of men.

Women are fighting back against attempts to drag them down. Statistics South Africa has found that more women than men are filing for divorce, suggesting that an increasing number of women are unwilling to tough it out in unhappy marriages, which are all too often breeding grounds for violent male behaviour.

In an investigation of rape in the rural areas of South Africa, the Mail and Guardian interviewed unnamed women from Botala Village in the Free State, who said that they would not encourage their daughters or friends to get married. While they noted that it is not all men who abuse, according to one woman, "...[we] do not encourage marriage because we see what other women live like". These women are clearly not willing to allow their daughters to live the lives that they have lived; they want something more for them.

Certainly, there are signs that the dominant conception of the "ideal" family type - that is, the nuclear family headed by the man - is withering away. Inexorably, the social organisation of sex is changing.

More women want to delay marital decisions and having children, and even not have children at all. Same sex couples are challenging the deeply ingrained hetero-normative assumptions about who gets to constitute a family. More people with financial means are choosing to live alone.

What is not well-understood is how these shifts in the nature of families are reshaping social identities and impacting on the growing problem of violence against women.

In their study of rape levels in major US cities, Kimberly Martin, Lynne Vieraitis and Sarah Britto found that rape levels declined when women's overall absolute status increased, as they attained the economic freedom to make life choices that suited them best, and secure their own personal safety.

Absolute status was measured according to female median income, female educational attainment, labour force participation and occupational prestige.

However, when only one or two indicators of women's status relative to men improved, without an overall improvement in women's absolute status, rape levels tended to increase.

This is because women develop a status that allows them greater appreciation of life's possibilities, yet they do have the economic means or social support to realise these ambitions. Men, in turn, react negatively to the growing frustrations of women and a backlash ensues, leading to them being "brought down to size" through sexual violence, including rape.

This backlash against increasingly educated, confident, assertive women has been noted in other countries too. According to Jacquie True, violence against women increases as they begin to occupy non-traditional roles.

For instance, in Pakistan and Bangladesh, women's educational attainment has been positively correlated with increasing acid attacks, used to maim their victims, often for life.

In spite of the fact that girls and women are often outstripping their male counterparts educationally, the global recession has harmed women's absolute status. Many have lost their jobs, or have been forced to accept reduced benefits.

Pregnant women have become soft targets for companies engaged in down-sizing efforts.

At the same time that many people (especially women) have been forced out of the workforce and back into the home, social services have been reduced and household debt has increased.

Families should be a source of comfort, love and stability, but many have become pressure cookers of stress as they are being expected to compensate for cutbacks to health, education and social welfare services. Women inevitably bear the brunt by having to increase unpaid labour in the family to compensate.

Retrenched men are struggling with the loss of their breadwinner status, which is impacting negatively on masculine self-image. Their new proximity to their spouses makes them the most immediate targets for male frustration, including sexual violence and rape. To this extent, there is a direct link between economic policy choices and sexual violence.

Indian environmental activist Vandana Shiva has noted how rape cases increased massively since the 1990's when neoliberal policies became the global norm, leading her to describe rape as a "social externality of economic reforms".

Given the role of the family in acting as a shock absorber of capitalist crises, including the most recent recession, governments has a vested interest in ensuring that families continue to play this role. Families provide a cheap way of ensuring the next generation of workers is reared, as the household absorbs the cost primarily through women's unpaid labour; as a result, subsistence wages become cheaper for employers and state subsidies for welfare can be reduced.

On the other hand, women thrive when childcare is socialised, but governments that are keen to save costs will also be keen to continue ensuring that women are kept in their place, namely in the home, notwithstanding any putative commitments to gender equality.

'justice system does not serve raped women'

South Africa has progressive laws on gender-based violence and a number of well-conceptualised public institutions guided by high-minded policies promoting gender equality, but without the resources or clout necessary to do their jobs.

The criminal justice system as its currently structured clearly does not serve raped women.

More members of the institution tasked with protecting women from violent attacks, and acting against their perpetrators, namely the police, are too busy shooting protestors or stringing people up to the back of police vans and dragging them to their deaths.

This is a global trend in recessionary periods; police resources are diverted from their "protect and serve" functions towards repression of the increasingly restive populace.
Women no longer interested in their reproductive role
Governments have a problem. Women are getting above themselves. They no longer want to perform the productive and reproductive services the state has dumped on them. Something must be done.

Enter the South African Department of Social Development with its Green Paper on Families, with the stated intention of strengthening the family, and buoyed by the religious right and other social conservatives all baying for a return to "family values".

In an attempt to regulate on-going access to women's sexual and reproductive capacity, and leading by example, President Jacob Zuma has told women that it is unnatural for them not to want to get married and have children.

While on the surface of things, the Green Paper has progressive elements, at a deeper level it is a profoundly conservative document. Focussing as it does on strengthening the hetero-normative nuclear family, and the pivotal role of marriage as an institution, the document pays lip service to the notion of family diversity.

The painful fact that needs to be acknowledged is that while on the surface of things, the government is committed to gender equality, in important ways it benefits from gender inequality. This leads to the half-hearted attempts to address the problem.

The state receives mixed messages from its political masters, whose policies pull in opposing directions at critical moments.

Professor Duncan is Highway Africa Chair of Media and Information Society, School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University.

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Violence against women: causes, effects - The Standard

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Many South Africans have decried the recent, terrible cases of rape. By Professor Jane Duncan South Africa's pervasive culture of hyper-masculinity has been blamed for the problem, as has the patriarchal nature of its society, where men remain the central figures around which society is organised in spite of the country's constitutionally enshrined commitment to gender equality.

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Kadına yönelik şiddet dendiğinde ilk akla gelen fiziksel şiddet yani dayak, yaralama ve cinayet olsa da şiddetin başka türleri de var. Örneğin kadının ev dışında çalışmasına izin vermemek, gelirine el koymak, ailesi ya da arkadaşlarıyla görüşmesine izin vermemek, hakaret etmek veya istemediği halde cinsel ilişkiye zorlamak da şiddettir.

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Follow-up to the 57th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Implementing agreed conclusions. 57th Commission on the Status of Women agreed conclusions.

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Types of violence against women | womenshealth.gov

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Violence strikes women from all kinds of backgrounds and of all ages. It can happen at work, on the street, or at home. Click on the topics below to learn about different types of violence and ways to stay safe.