Say Yes, Summer 2006: A Global Study for a Global Issue

With the publication of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children this Autumn, the governments of the world -- along with their partners -- aim to strengthen the protective rights of children by paving the way for changes in national and international law. Drawing on existing research and analysis of the forms, causes and impact of violence on children, the recommendations of the report will inform other initiatives such as the Council of Europe’s Programme to End Violence Against Children.

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children

On the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Secretary-General commissioned the global study on Violence Against Children in February 2003. Requesting the study, the Chairperson of the Committee emphasised that such a study should lead to the development of strategies aimed at effectively preventing and combating all forms of violence against children, outlining steps to be taken at the international level and by States to provide effective prevention, protection, intervention, treatment, recovery and reintegration.

A collaboration between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), WHO and UNICEF, the Study aims to provide an action oriented perspective into the causes and effects of violence on the development of children within:

• the home and family;
• schools and educational settings;
• institutions;
• the community and on the streets -- including children in conflict with the law;
• work situations.

The Study will show how governments and partners can be more proactive in inducing change and how children can be active participants in the process. To this end, children from all over the world were invited to contribute their views on the draft report in May of this year.

Although the Study will not present country by country comparative data, it will be prepared from responses to a formal questionnaire for governments, official statistics, reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), expert group meetings, conferences, summits and reports from non-governmental organisations. Information provided by children who have participated throughout the process will also contribute to the formulation of the final report and its recommendations.

The Study will be published in three versions: a brief policy oriented document of recommendations to the UN General Assembly; a child-friendly version and a more extensive popular version incorporating case studies, best practices and recommendations. The Study will not dwell on the horrors of violence against children but will rather focus on effective remedies and preventive and rehabilitative measures at the national and international levels.

The launch of the Study Report will also provide participating children with the opportunity to discuss follow-up activities at regional and national levels during 2007.

The Council of Europe’s Programme to End Violence Against Children

The Council of Europe launched its programme to End Violence Against Children with a two-day conference in April. Deputy Secretary-General, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, explained that the programme is about building a Europe for and with children. During her address to the conference, de Boer-Buquicchio cautioned that:

Despite almost sixty years’ building and reconstruction efforts, Europe is still not our children’s home … violence against children continues to exist, is growing and assuming new forms. No country is free of it and no country has done everything possible to solve the problem. We have accordingly decided to devote all our energies, resources and expertise to promoting respect for children’s rights and to combating violence against children.

De Boer-Buquicchio pointed out that although Europe has some very good human rights standards, last year’s Regional Consultation for the UN Study on Violence Against Children in Lubljana concluded that violence persists in every member state of the Council of Europe.

De Boer-Boquicchio was disarmingly frank when she told child participants:

The good news is that we genuinely want to build a Europe with children. The bad news is that we don’t know how to go about it.

The Programme to End Violence Against Children is based on four principles of:

• protection of children at risk of difficult economic, political and social situations;
• prevention of violence through implementation of national strategies;
• prosecution of those responsible for violence -- including the drafting of an international legal instrument against sexual exploitation;
• participation of children -- including those who are out-of-school or otherwise socially excluded.

The first objective of the Programme will be to promote children’s rights by helping States to honour their commitments under international legal instruments such as the CRC. The second objective will be to monitor implementation of the recommendations made in the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children.

UNICEF Geneva Regional Director, Philip O’Brien pointed out that:

We are not starting from scratch -- we have the Convention as a base. The CRC is a legally binding instrument that covers the full spectrum of rights -- civil, cultural, economic, political and social -- and provides the basis for safeguarding the welfare, development and dignity of children the world over.

O’Brien also stressed the importance of monitoring indicators and data collection:

Development and identification of child rights indicators, harmonisation of indicators and statistics in close collaboration with national statistical authorities and development of data collection and information management systems at national and European levels are crucial to provide the basis both for targeted national child rights promotion and awareness raising.

Maria Calivis, UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) said that:

Although many legal safeguards are in place to protect children, their views have not often been translated into concrete actions and there has been little accountability.

More importantly, the most vulnerable children are still being failed by the system -- including children from different ethnic groups, children in residential institutions and unaccompanied children, to name but a few.

Read more about the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children.

Read more about the Council of Europe’s Programme to End Violence Against Children.

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