#COVID19: More Children At Risk For Domestic Violence – WHO,UNICEF

“Every year,half of the world’s children– approximately 1 billion– are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence, suffering injuries, disabilities & death”.
This assertion was made on Thursday by the World Health Organization.

The WHO stated this candidly in a report on global violence statistics. “This is because countries have failed to follow established strategies to #EndViolence against children”, the far-reaching Agency said.

The new report was published by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the End Violence Partnership.

“There is never any excuse for violence against children,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “We have evidence-based tools to prevent it, which we urge all countries to implement. Protecting the health and well-being of children is central to protecting our collective health and well-being, now and for the future.”

The report – Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children 2020 – is said to be the first of its kind, mapping progress in 155 countries against the “INSPIRE” framework,

WHO says the INSPIRE Framework is “a set of seven strategies for preventing and responding to violence against children. The report signals a clear need in all countries to scale up efforts to implement them.
While nearly all countries (88%) have key laws in place to protect children against violence, less than half of countries (47%) said these were being strongly enforced”.

“The report includes the first ever global homicide estimates specifically for children under 18 years of age – previous estimates were based on data that included 18 to 19-year olds. It finds that, in 2017, around 40,000 children were victims of homicide”– WHO.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore revealed that violence against children could be getting worse, due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

“Violence against children has always been pervasive, and now things could be getting much worse,” she said.

“Lockdowns, school closures and movement restrictions have left far too many children stuck with their abusers, without the safe space that school would normally offer. It is urgent to scale up efforts to protect children during these times and beyond, including by designating social service workers as essential and strengthening child helplines”, Fore continued.

The report, according to the World Health Organization, signals a clear need for all countries to “scale up efforts to implement strategies to #EndViolence against children”.

The WHO further noted that although 88% of countries have key laws in place to protect children, only 47% of countries said these were being strongly enforced.

Statistics According To The New Report:

as published by the World Health Organization.

The report includes the first ever global homicide estimates specifically for children under 18 years of age:

• – in 2017, around 40 000 children were victims of homicide, including 28,160 boys;11,990 girls.
• Nearly 3 in 4 children (300 million) aged 2-4 years regularly suffer physical punishment and/or psychological violence at the hands of parents and caregivers.
• 1 in 4 children aged under 5 years live with a mother who is a victim of intimate partner violence.
• 1 in 3 students aged 11 to 15 suffered bullying in the past month. That’s 35% of boys and 30% of girls aged 13 to 15 were in a physical fight in the past year. That’s 45% of boys  and 25% of girls.
• 120 million girls & young women under 20 years of age have suffered some form of forced sexual contact.

Adults who experienced four or more childhood adversities are:

• Seven times more likely to be involved in interpersonal violence
• 30 times more likely to attempt suicide.
• When physically or sexually abused as a child:
• – Men are 14 times more likely to perpetuate physical & sexual intimate partner violence
• – Women are 16 times more likely to suffer physical & sexual intimate partner violence.