Strategy for Ending Violence against Children

Globally, three out of four children aged 2 to 4 years are disciplined violently by their caregivers on a regular basis. Around six in 10 are punished through physical means.

Approximately one in four children under age five live with a mother who faces domestic violence. Children who witness domestic violence are more likely to become either perpetrators or victims of such violence later in life.

Globally, about 15 million adolescent girls (aged 15 to 19) have experienced non-consensual sex, most often with a current or former husband or partner. Based on UN Women data from 30 countries, only one percent of the girls have sought professional help.

About 18 per cent of girls and eight per cent of boys globally have experienced child sexual abuse.

In 2015, 82,000 adolescents were killed worldwide. The report states that an adolescent is killed by an act of violence every seven minutes.

Nearly seven in 10 child homicide victims are males, with adolescent males experiencing higher rates than younger children.

It is likely that the Covid-19 lockdown in countries worldwide will lead to an increase in violence against women and children. The report states that adolescent pregnancies increased by 65 per cent during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

The perpetrators were known to the victims in 94.6 per cent of child sexual abuse cases in India; in 53.7 per cent of cases, they were close family members, relatives or friends.

At least 25,000 images of child sexual abuse are uploaded from India every day – states the report, citing 2020 data from the US-based organisation National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

A 2012 study by the government of India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights found that 99 per cent of school children in the country were subjected to physical and mental abuse by teachers.

The number of distress calls about or by children to CHILDLINE 1098 – a service provided by the Ministry of Women and Child Development – increased by 50 per cent during the first two weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown in India, which was announced on March 24, 2020.

The country’s main child protection laws include The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986; The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006; The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012; and The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Focus and Factoids by Rohan Datta.

PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.