Countries across the globe are failing to protect children as nearly one billion children - or every second child in the world - experience physical, sexual or psychological violence every year, a UN report warned on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2020) Countries across the globe are failing to protect children as nearly one billion children - or every second child in the world - experience physical, sexual or psychological violence every year, a UN report warned on Monday.
The report dubbed "Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children 2020" was prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNESCO, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the End Violence Partnership.
"Violence affects the lives of up to 1 billion children, with long-lasting and costly emotional, social and economic consequences. Globally, it is estimated that one out of two children aged between two and 17 years experience some form of violence each year," the report's executive summary read.
According to the document, even though 88 percent of countries have laws in place to protect children from different forms of violence, less than a half of countries, or 47 percent, have them sufficiently enforced.
"Only one fifth of countries has fully funded national action plans or plans that include specified indicators on the prevalence of violence against children with baseline and target values," it added.
The report also warned that lockdown measures and stay-at-home orders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have caused an increase in helpline calls about child abuse, while smaller number of such violations have been reported to child protection services.
"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," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore was quoted as saying in the press release about the report.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also joined calls on countries to take bolder action to protect children.
"There is never any excuse for violence against children. 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," Tedros was quoted as saying.
In 2017, 40,150 children aged under 17 years were victims of homicide, which accounts for 8.4 percent of all homicides globally, the report estimated.
