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	Globally, one in four children suffers physical abuse by End Violence Against Children - Global Partnership   Confronting violence against children, by Kevin Jenkins. President, World Vision International, agencies   Every time I visit World Vision projects, I am taken to places where our work must address the damage done by people who inflict violence on children before we can make progress toward our development goals.   Boys forced to fight in militias. Girls raped as they struggle to make a living, trafficked for sex or married far too young. Even children murdered for body parts for witchcraft, like seven-year-old Robert whom I met in Uganda, partially paralysed after the community reacted just in time to save him from death.   Most violence against children is not so spectacular. I have seen children whipped into line in schools, slapped and demeaned at home, threatened and assaulted by police officers. Violence is the unspoken secret in every culture - everyone knows it happens, but nobody wants to talk about it. It's time to shine a light on it.   Allowing the routine cycle of violence to continue, generation upon generation, hinders children in every way. Why shouldn't we be the ones who bring an end to the repeating cry of pain which echoes down the generations?   These acts of sexual, physical and emotional violence threaten children's survival, health and education. They erode a country's human and social capital, slowing development and tearing at the fabric of society.   Families are the most important line of defence for children. We must help parents and care-givers to protect their children by offering them new skills and by improving family income and economic security.   Religious leaders and faith communities have a role to play. Many traditional beliefs about the right way to raise a child have been wrongly muddled up with religious practice.   Government action is vital. It is not enough to pass laws which outlaw child marriage, genital mutilation or physical beatings. Governments should measure success by the number of convictions, not the number of laws.   Teachers are crucial. We want children to spend their formative years getting an education which will benefit them and their nations, but teachers must recognise that their first duty is to keep pupils safe from harm.   Perhaps most of all, we need children and youth to know that it is their right to live without violence, and to stand up for one another and for society to support them when they do.   Abusing a child is never justifiable, and it is preventable. From empowering children and youth to speak out, to equipping families, to campaigning against harmful traditional practices, we have plenty of evidence to show which interventions really work.   What has been lacking is the will. World Vision will play its part in a growing movement of empowered children and youth, of civil society and faith-based networks, of national governments and other partners. We will demand urgent action and drive progress for children wherever we work.   Every one of us is responsible to do our part to keep children safe. Join this campaign. Let's work together, and sow the seeds of a movement that spreads around every continent. It takes a world, to end a world of pain for children.   http://www.wvi.org/ittakesaworld http://www.unicef.org/endviolence/ http://www.unicef.org/endviolence/endviolenceonline/ http://uni.cf/2oRQvEr http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/ http://bit.ly/2pF3woR http://bit.ly/1h5RFaN http://www.end-violence.org/news.html http://www.knowviolenceinchildhood.org/ http://bit.ly/29vXWZM http://www.savethechildren.net/article/ending-violence-against-children-grossly-underfunded-within-framework-international http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/keyword/violence-against-children   July 2016   The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that in the past year, as many as one billion children around the world have experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence.   Globally, one in four children suffers physical abuse. Nearly one in five girls is sexually abused at least once in her life, while every five minutes, a child dies as a result of violence.   'Violence against children is a problem shared by every society, so the solution must also be shared', says the Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Anthony Lake.   'When we protect children from violence we not only prevent individual tragedies and support children's development and growth. In doing so, we also support the strength and stability of their societies'.   'Every day, in every country and every community, children are victimized by violence and far too often, this violence is accepted as normal, permissible, or a private matter', said Susan Bissell, Director of the End Violence Against Children Global Partnership.   'Violence against children is not inevitable, if we challenge the status quo that harms the lives and futures of so many children. Every child has the right to grow up free from violence and we all need to work together to realize that vision'.   The United Nations-backed partnership and fund was launched to make achieving the new global target to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children a public priority and a collective responsibility.   End Violence Against Children - The Global Partnership brings together the United Nations, governments, foundations, civil society, academia, the private sector and young people in driving action towards achieving the targets to end violence by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   At the launch event, government ministers from Sweden, Mexico, Indonesia and Tanzania committed to developing specific plans that will combat violence against children, including tackling behaviours and traditions that further violence, making schools and institutions safe for all children, and strengthening data collection about violence and children, among other efforts.   The Global Partnership also launched a new 'Inspire' package of seven strategies to prevent violence against children.   The package was created with the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, End Violence Against Children, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), The Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Together for Girls, UNICEF, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank.   The new strategies include parent and caregiver support programmes, life skills training, the implementation and enforcement of laws, and services for victims.   The World Health Organisation (WHO) highlighted that the seven approaches have all been tested, and all have shown concrete results.   'Knowledge about the extent and harms of violence against children is growing, together with evidence about effective strategies for prevention', noted Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of WHO's Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention.   'Now we need to build on that knowledge to work collectively to create the safe, stable, and nurturing environments that protect children and adolescents from violent harm', he added.   * Access the WHO report: http://bit.ly/29vXWZM   Nov. 2016   Physical and emotional violence are pervasive and largely accepted aspects of children's lives, according to a set of recently published studies by the UNICEF Office of Research.   Interviews with children and their caregivers over nearly a decade in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Viet Nam provided researchers with important new insights on the way violence impacts children as they grow up.   The new findings have been published in the 'Understanding Children's Experiences of Violence' series of working papers produced by the UNICEF Office of Research Innocenti in collaboration with the University of Oxford's Young Lives research initiative.   The papers comprise the latest evidence to emerge from UNICEF's Multi-Country Study on the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children.   'Violence is pervasive in children's lives impacting them in the family, in schools, and in the community and this research, based on interviews with the same children over many years, paints a clearer picture of the intergenerational transmission of violence', said Catherine Maternowska, UNICEF Innocenti's lead researcher on the project.   'Understanding how violence affects children as they move through childhood, adolescence and later into young adulthood, gives us important insights into change in a child's capacities and in the environments where they live, sleep, study and play'.   The new papers reveal unique aspects of the way children from four very different corners of the world perceive and cope with violence. A number of issues also appear to be in common among them as well.   Violence is clearly linked to economic shocks in the family, such as death, illness or loss of a job.   In Viet Nam children perceived economic hardship as the cause of increased tension and stress leading to more exposure to violence at home. In Peru, children were more often exposed to exploitative child labor and instances of neglect when families had to cope with loss of economic resources.   In all four countries, parents and children both articulated the perception that violence is an acceptable or even necessary tool for shaping good behaviour and values.   In Peru, children subjected to violence expect to raise their children the same way. In Ethiopia, violence was viewed as an acceptable way to instill a culture of hard work and discipline.   In India, violence was articulated by some as an acceptable way to deal with 'transgressions' committed by young women and girls. At the same time, children express how they suffer under these often-unbearable conditions.   Violence, according to children across all four countries, is a normal consequence of failing to meet responsibilities in the home and at school - linking two important spheres in children's lives.   In India almost all children experienced corporal punishment in school. In Viet Nam, children feared being beaten by their parents for poor grades on school exams. In Ethiopia, violence was often experienced as a result of failing to perform agricultural chores properly. Experiences of violence change depending on age, gender and setting.   http://www.unicef-irc.org/article/1489-understanding-child-experiences-boosts-effort-to-end-violence.html   * April 2017 UN WebTV: It Takes a World: High level event on Ending Violence against Children: http://bit.ly/2wgqHsB   * March 2017 UN WebTV Panel discussion at the UN Human Rights Council - Challenges and opportunities to reinforce children's rights through the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda: http://bit.ly/2pFdx5c Visit the related web page
	One in six children globally living in areas impacted by conflict by Save the Children, UNICEF, agencies   One in six children globally living in areas impacted by conflict. (Save the Children)   More children than ever before - at least 357 million globally - are now living in areas affected by conflict, a new report by Save the Children reveals.   The War on Children: Time to End Violations Against Children in Armed Conflict shows this number has increased by 75 per cent since the early 1990s, with one in six children globally now living in impacted areas.   Nearly half of these children are in areas affected by high-intensity conflict where they could be vulnerable to the UN's six grave violations - killing and maiming, recruitment and use of children, sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian assistance.   The report shows there are significant gaps in child and gender-specific data in conflicts that need to be addressed by improved monitoring and reporting mechanisms. Despite this, some trends are clear and deeply worrying.   Since 2010, the number of UN-verified cases of children being killed and maimed has gone up by almost 300 per cent, while incidents of denial of humanitarian access have skyrocketed by more than 1,500 per cent. The widespread stigma around rape and sexual assault means it is an especially under-reported aspect of conflict, but it is clear that this issue remains prevalent and that both girls and boys are at risk.   This has been fuelled by a growing disregard for the rules of war, and indiscriminate violence in countries like Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan.   The War on Children report attributes the worsening situation to the increasing urbanisation of war, the growing use of explosive weapons in populated areas, as well as the protracted and more complex nature of modern conflict that has put children and civilians on the front lines. It also reveals that:   Brutal tactics are increasingly used to target children in warfare - including the use of children as suicide bombers, direct targeting of schools and hospitals and the widespread use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster munitions, barrel bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).   Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia were the most dangerous conflict-affected countries to be a child in 2016.   Children in the Middle East are most likely to be living in a conflict zone, with two in five children in that region living in a conflict-affected area, the highest rate globally.   Africa is second, with 1 in 5 children affected by conflict. Asia has the highest overall number of children affected by conflict.   Save the Children International CEO, Helle Thorning Schmidt, said: 'We are seeing a shocking increase in the number of children growing up in areas affected by conflict, and being exposed to the most serious forms of violence imaginable'.   'Children are suffering things that no child ever should; from sexual violence to being used as suicide bombers. Their homes, schools and playgrounds have become battlefields.   Crimes like this against children are the darkest kind of abuse imaginable, and are a flagrant violation of international law. World leaders must do more to hold perpetrators accountable.   This failure to protect children in conflict not only robs them, but also their countries and the entire world of a better future.   We face a stark choice. Will we stand by while more children die at their school desks and in their hospital beds, are denied life-saving aid or are recruited into armed groups? Or will we tackle the culture of impunity and end the 'war on children' for good?'   Save the Children is calling on states, militaries, and all actors with influence over the lives of children in conflict to commit to practical actions on four key themes:   Preventing children being put at risk: Investments need to be made in conflict-prevention initiatives and peacekeeping, and training for military forces on child protection.   Upholding international laws and standards: All states and actors should abide by their commitments under international law, and should endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and Paris Commitments & Paris Principles.[iii] States and armed groups must commit to avoiding the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.   Holding violators to account: We urgently need stronger monitoring and reporting mechanisms to properly track civilian harm and child casualties, and stronger justice systems that address violations of children's rights in conflict.   Rebuilding shattered lives: We must put children at the centre of reconstruction efforts and invest in support for children affected by conflict, including providing appropriate mental health care for children, training local mental health and social workers and assisting children with disabilities.   Funding for the rebuilding of children's lives wrecked by conflict must also be made available. http://bit.ly/2tkB4LG   http://www.savethechildren.net/waronchildren/   Children under attack at shocking scale in conflicts around the world, says UNICEF.   Children in conflict zones around the world have come under attack at a shocking scale throughout the year, UNICEF warned today, with parties to conflicts blatantly disregarding international laws designed to protect the most vulnerable.   'Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds', said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes. 'As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal'.   In conflicts around the world, children have become frontline targets, used as human shields, killed, maimed and recruited to fight. Rape, forced marriage, abduction and enslavement have become standard tactics in conflicts from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, to Nigeria, South Sudan and Myanmar.   In some contexts, children abducted by extremist groups experience abuse yet again upon release when they are detained by security forces. Millions more children are paying an indirect price for these conflicts, suffering from malnutrition, disease and trauma as basic services - including access to food, water, sanitation and health are denied, damaged or destroyed in the fighting.   Over the course of 2017:   In Afghanistan, almost 700 children were killed in the first 9 months of the year.   In the Central African Republic, after months of renewed fighting, a dramatic increase in violence saw children being killed, raped, abducted and recruited by armed groups.   In the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violence has driven 850,000 children from their homes, while more than 200 health centres and 400 schools were attacked. An estimated 350,000 children have suffered from severe acute malnutrition.   In northeast Nigeria and Cameroon, Boko Haram has forced at least 135 children to act as suicide bombers, almost five times the number in 2016.   In Iraq and Syria, children have reportedly been used as human shields, trapped under siege, targeted by snipers and lived through intense bombardment and violence.   In Myanmar, Rohingya children suffered and witnessed shocking and widespread violence as they were attacked and driven from their homes in Rakhine state; while children in remote border areas of Kachin, Shan, and Kayin states continued to suffer the consequences of ongoing tensions between the Myanmar Armed Forces and various ethnic armed groups.   In South Sudan, where conflict and a collapsing economy led to a famine declaration in parts of the country, more than 19,000 children have been recruited into armed forces and armed groups, and over 2,300 children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in December 2013.   In Somalia, 1,740 cases of child recruitment were reported in the first 10 months of 2017.   In Yemen, nearly 1,000 days of fighting left at least 5,000 children dead or injured, according to verified data, with actual numbers expected to be much higher. More than 11 million children need humanitarian assistance. Out of 1.8 million children suffering from malnutrition, 385,000 are severely malnourished and at risk of death if not urgently treated.   UNICEF calls on all parties to conflict to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.   UNICEF also calls on States with influence over parties to conflict to use that influence to protect children. Across all these countries, UNICEF works with partners to provide the most vulnerable children with health, nutrition, education and child protection services. http://uni.cf/2zFzSjZ   Sep. 2017   Children's access to safe water and sanitation is a right, not a privilege, underlines Sanjay Wijesekera - UNICEF global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene.   In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children's most basic means of survival 'water'' must be a priority, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says, warning that children living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack access to drinking water.   'Children's access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege', said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF's global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene, who warned, as World Water Week gets underway, that more than 180 million people in crisis-torn countries have no access to drinking water.   UNICEF said that in Yemen, a country reeling from the impact of over two years of conflict, water supply networks that serve the country's largest cities are at imminent risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair. Around 15 million people in the country have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation.   As for Syria, where the conflict is well into its seventh year, around 15 million people are in need of safe water, including an estimated 6.4 million children.   Water has frequently been used as a weapon of war: In 2016 alone, there were at least 30 deliberate water cuts - including in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Raqqa and Dara, with pumps destroyed and water sources contaminated.   In conflict-affected areas in northeast Nigeria, 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, leaving 3.6 million people without even basic water services.   The UN agency adds that in South Sudan, where fighting has raged for over three years, almost half the water points across the country have been damaged or completely destroyed.   'In far too many cases, water and sanitation systems have been attacked, damaged or left in disrepair to the point of collapse. When children have no safe water to drink, and when health systems are left in ruins, malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera will inevitably follow', said Mr. Wijesekera.   In Yemen, for example, children make up more than 53 per cent of the over half a million cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhoea reported so far. Somalia is suffering from the largest outbreak of cholera in the last five years, with nearly 77,000 cases of suspected cholera/acute watery diarrhoea. And in South Sudan, the cholera outbreak is the most severe the country has ever experienced, with more than 19,000 cases since June 2016, said UNICEF.   In famine-threatened north-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children, are in urgent need of safe water. More than five million children are estimated to be malnourished this year, with 1.4 million severely so.   http://uni.cf/2wOEfvO http://uni.cf/2wGT03G http://www.unicef-irc.org/article/1663/ http://www.unicef.org/wash/waterandclimate/ http://uni.cf/2xBG64v Visit the related web page
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