All children have the right to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse. Yet, millions of children worldwide from all socioeconomic backgrounds, across all ages, religions and cultures suffer violence, exploitation and abuse every day. Millions more are at risk.
Some girls and boys are particularly vulnerable because of gender, race, ethnic origin or socioeconomic status. Higher levels of vulnerability are often associated with children with disabilities, who are orphaned, indigenous, from ethnic minorities and other marginalized groups. Other risks for children are associated with living and working on the streets, living in institutions and detention, and living in communities where inequality, unemployment and poverty are highly concentrated. Natural disasters, armed conflict, and displacement may expose children to additional risks. Child refugees, internally displaced children and unaccompanied migrant children are also populations of concern. Vulnerability is also associated with age; younger children are at greater risk of certain types of violence and the risks differ as they get older.
Violence, exploitation and abuse are often practiced by someone known to the child, including parents, other family members, caretakers, teachers, employers, law enforcement authorities, state and non-state actors and other children. Only a small proportion of acts of violence, exploitation and abuse are reported and investigated, and few perpetrators are held accountable.
Violence, exploitation and abuse occur in the homes, families, schools, care and justice systems, workplaces and communities across all contexts, including as a result of conflict and natural disasters. Many children are exposed to various forms of violence, exploitation and abuse, including sexual abuse and exploitation, armed violence, trafficking, child labor, gender-based violence, bullying , cyber-bullying, gang violence, female genital mutilation/cutting, child marriage, physically and emotionally violent child discipline, and other harmful practices.
There is significant evidence that violence, exploitation and abuse can affect the child’s physical and mental health in the short and longer term, impairing their ability to learn and socialize, and impacting their transition to adulthood with adverse consequences later in life.
HARMFUL PRACTICES:
Harmful cultural practices, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), are discriminatory practices committed regularly over such long periods of time that communities and societies begin to consider them acceptable.
Around the world, hundreds of millions of girls and boys have experienced some form of violence, exploitation or harmful practice, although girls are at much greater risk. Child marriage and FGM span continents and cultures, yet in every society in which they are practiced, they reflect values that hold girls in low esteem and deprive them of the agency to chart their own course in life.
FGM can lead to serious health complications – including prolonged bleeding, infection and infertility – or even death. Girls who have undergone FGM are at heightened risk of experiencing complications during childbirth. It is estimated that FGM causes an additional one to two perinatal deaths per 100 deliveries.
In some societies, FGM goes hand in hand with child marriage. Girls marred as children are more likely to drop out of school and become pregnant as teenagers – when they face increased risks of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, compared to women in their twenties. Infants born to teenage mothers are also more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life.
Wherever they occur, harmful practices rob girls of their childhood, deny them the chance to determine their own future and threaten the well-being of individuals, families and societies.
SOLUTIONS TO HARMFUL PRACTICES:
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for the elimination of all harmful practices, including FGM and child marriage. This recognition builds social and political will to end these practices and advance the rights of women and girls globally.
We seek to ensure that every child is protected from violence and exploitation, including harmful practices, in both humanitarian and development settings. To that end, CIPDI Partnered with UNICEF to:
- Increase global knowledge of the problem and political commitment to end child marriage and FGM
- Develop and support implementation of appropriate laws and policies
- Support community-level transformation of social norms and practices
- Empower women and girls to express and exercise their rights
- Increase access to quality prevention, protection and care services
- Increase government ownership over relevant programs and efforts
- Strengthen data collection and analysis