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Children victims of violence, sexual abuse, homicides: UNICEF
An astonishing number of children – some of them as young as one year old – are experiencing violence that is often committed by those entrusted to take care of them, UNICEF said in a report released on Wednesday.
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Happy childhood: Children perform the Garuda Nusantara dance during a children's dance competition in Surabaya, East Java, on Oct.3. (Antara/Moch Asim)
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n astonishing number of children – some of them as young as one year old – are experiencing violence that is often committed by those entrusted to take care of them, UNICEF said in a report released on Wednesday.
“The harm inflicted on children around the world is truly worrying,” said UNICEF chief of child protection Cornelius Williams.
“Babies are slapped in the face, girls and boys are forced into sexual acts and adolescents are murdered in their communities. Violence against children spares no one and knows no boundaries.”
The report themed “A Familiar Face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents” uses the very latest data to show that children have experienced violence across all stages of their childhood and in all settings.
The report reveals that three quarters of the world’s children aged between 2 to 4 years – or around 300 million – have experienced psychological aggression and/or physical punishment by their caregivers at home.
Around 15 million adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts in their lifetime. Globally, every 7 minutes an adolescent is killed by an act of violence.
It further says that half the population of school-age children, or around 732 million, live in countries where corporal punishment at school is not fully prohibited.
To end violence against children, UNICEF is calling for governments to take urgent action and support the INSPIRE guidance, which has been agreed and promoted by WHO, UNICEF and the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children. (ebf)
