UN agencies to collaborate on study of violence against children

As an overflow crowd spilled onto the stairways, moderator Thomas Hammarberg, Representative of the Prime Minister of Sweden, opened the Special Session supporting event on 'Protecting Children from Violence' by noting that children regularly identify violence as their top concern.

"It is everywhere," observed Andre Roberfroid, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, describing the tragic epidemic of violence against children. "At the same time, it is very hard to do anything about it, not least because it is often hidden -- in families or in institutions."

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, confessed that even after four years as High Commissioner she is still taken aback at the extent and range of violence against children. Robinson underscored the importance of the upcoming UN Study on Violence against Children, and announced an agreement between her Office, UNICEF and the World Health Organization to support it. The primary role of her Office, stated Mrs Robinson, will be to ensure that the study is based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child .

Members of the audience urged that the study document all forms of violence - from the more extreme state-sponsored acts of violence against children living and working on the street, to more insidious forms of psychological abuse and corporal punishment many children endure at home and school. Minister Ingela Thalen of Sweden shared her country's experience of banning corporal punishment.

Abeda Kagee, 13, and Monique Anthony, 12, from the South African non-governmental organization Molo Songololo, spoke of how many children's lives are steeped in violence. Reacting to the horrors children experience, Abeda asked, "Are we living in a world fit for children?"