Ending violence against children
Children experience violence everywhere: in their homes, schools and communities and no child is ‘immune’. UNICEF recognizes that while violence against children is pervasive, it is not inevitable.
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Violence against Children in Europe and Central Asia
Our goal: UNICEF is working with partners across the Europe and Central Asia region to end every form of violence against children, whether physical or emotional, and to change the attitudes that allow it to continue.
Data from the region
An estimated 34 million children across the Europe and Central Asia region are subjected to violent discipline at home, according to available data.
Around 37 million girls and women of all ages in the region experienced sexual violence during their childhood, and nearly 25% of all girls aged 15-19 who have been in a relationship will have experienced intimate partner violence by the time they turn 20.
9 million school students aged 13 to 15 have reported being victims of bullying in the past month.
Violence is devastating for children, from the immediate threat to their survival to the long-term damage to their development and well-being. Millions of children in the Europe and Central Asia region are affected, yet the violence they endure is rarely acknowledged, partly because it is seen as ‘normal’.
Children often face violence in the place that should be the safest of all – their homes. Around half of all children in the region experience violent discipline, and there are close links between violence against women and violence against children, which are often found in the same households.
Outside the home, children face violence in their classrooms, their neighbourhoods and online. While more access to the Internet expands children’s opportunities for learning and education, it also means more risks, with children increasingly vulnerable to cyberbullying and sexual exploitation.
While every child is vulnerable to violence, some children are at greater risk. Those with disabilities, for example, are more likely to be abused, abandoned or institutionalized by families who lack the support they need. The Europe and Central Asia region has the world’s highest proportion of child institutionalization – double the global rate – and children growing up in institutional care face heightened risks of violence and abuse.
Adolescents are also vulnerable: those aged 15 to 19 are three times more likely to die as a result of violence than those aged 10 to 14. And one in four adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 will experience violence at the hands of an intimate partner.
Children now face evolving dangers as a result of overlapping crises: conflict, poverty and climate change. They include children who are fleeing conflict and the growing numbers now living in conflict-affected areas. They also include around 160 million children in the region who are vulnerable to the impact of climate change: a ‘risk-multiplier’ for violence as people are pushed into poverty or forced from their homes.
Key policies
1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Article 19: States Parties shall take all measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
- See also:
- 2000: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
- 2011: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure
2015 Sustainable Development Goals
- Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
2007 Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
2024 UN Convention against Cybercrime
What is UNICEF doing?
Violence against children is unacceptable. But it is also preventable.
UNICEF works to build a strong protective environment for every child. We work with governments to strengthen health, education, child protection and justice systems so that they can prevent, respond to and reduce violence against children. Every form of violence against children must be eliminated, but different forms may need different responses to ensure that children and families get the support they need at the right time. Prevention, however, is key. We work to change the attitudes and behaviour that allow violence against children to continue, while strengthening systems and the skills of professionals so that children at risk are identified and supported.
We work, for example, to strengthen the skills of social workers to uphold children’s best interests in decisions about their safety. Our work with the justice sector aims to ensure that children are not re-traumatized by legal procedures. One example is the Barnahus model, which brings investigators, doctors and psychologists together in child-friendly centres where children can get the support they need.
We offer support to parents, including approaches such as home-visiting, which connect them to vital services, as well as our Bebbo app, which offers clear parenting advice. Our support for children includes the creation of confidential helplines where they can report violence and get help.
UNICEF recognizes the links between violence against women and violence against children and pushes for more collaboration between professionals working on both areas. We aim to help adolescent boys and girls build healthy, non-violent relationships. We work to end child marriage, which often exposes girls to domestic violence and abuse. And our measures to tackle gender-based violence during emergencies include the creation of safe spaces for women and girls.
Through joint public campaigns with governments, civil society, media and children themselves, we aim to break the silence on violence against children. This is essential to end the violence, wherever and whenever it occurs.