Reply #3: World Report on Violence against Children [View All]

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Download World Report on Violence against Children @ http://www.unviolencestudy.org/ (PDF Document)

From Chapter 1...

INTRODUCTION

The full range and scale of all forms of violence against children are only now becoming visible, as is the evidence of the harm it does. This book documents the outcomes and recommendations of the process of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children.

‘The Study’ is the first comprehensive, global study on all forms of violence against children. It builds on the model of the study on the impact of armed conflict on children, prepared by Graça Machel and presented to the General Assembly in 1996, and follows the World Health Organization’s 2002 World Report on Violence and Health.1

The Study is also the first United Nations (UN) study to engage directly and consistently with children, underlining and reflecting children’s status as rights holders, and their right to express views on all matters that affect them and have their views given due weight.

The central message of the Study is that no violence against children is justifiable, and all violence against children is preventable. The Study reveals that in every region, in stark contradiction to States’ human rights obligations and children’s developmental needs, much violence against children remains legal, State-authorised and socially approved. The Study aims to mark a definitive global turning point: an end to the justification of violence against children, whether accepted as ‘tradition’ or disguised as ‘discipline’.

There can be no compromise in challenging violence against children. Children’s uniqueness – their human potential, their initial fragility and vulnerability, their dependence on adults for their growth and development – make an unassailable case for more, not less, investment in prevention and protection from violence.

In recent decades some extreme forms of violence against children, including sexual exploitation and trafficking, female genital mutilation (FGM), the worst forms of child labour and the impact of armed conflict, have provoked international outcry and achieved a consensus of condemnation, although no rapid remedy. But in addition to these extreme forms of violence, many children are routinely exposed to physical, sexual and psychological violence in their homes and schools, in care
and justice systems, in places of work and in their communities. All of this has devastating consequences for their health and well-being, now and in the future.

http://www.unviolencestudy.org (Chapter 1, "An end to violence against children")