Ending violence

Project overview | Publications | Approach | Journal articles | Events | Insights  

More than half the world’s children have experienced some form of abuse in the past year alone. And one in three women will be subjected to violence across their lifetimes, with younger women at the greatest risk. We know that violence against children and violence against women impacts their health, wellbeing and education and can have long-lasting effects. Exposure to violence early in life is also linked to later victimization and perpetration of violence. 

Violence against children and violence against women are critical global human rights and public health problems. That is why it is crucial that evidence-informed actions are taken at all levels to end such violence.

UNICEF Innocenti examines violence across the life course, paying particular attention to the intersections between different manifestations of violence. Our research casts a light on how entrenched inequalities and harmful norms compound individuals’ vulnerability to violence. Because by better understanding the nature, risk and protective factors, violence can be prevented.

Given the clear sex differences in violence levels, patterns, and risk factors, UNICEF Innocenti also promotes a gender transformative approach to this work. Such an approach places the causes of gender inequality at the centre of our research and works to transform harmful gender roles, norms, and power imbalances that underpin the perpetration and experience of violence.

UNICEF Innocenti conducts and supports evidence generation in relation to violence in several ways:

• Synthesizing violence evidence and developing global shared research agendas
• Exploring emerging challenges in the field of violence against children
• Strengthening networks and capacities for generating and using evidence
• Addressing the intersections between violence against children and violence against women

Evidence shows that violence against children and violence against women occur together and intersect in many ways, including through shared risk factors, common underlying social norms and share adolescence as a vulnerable period and opportunity for prevention. These links suggest that collaborating could improve efforts to prevent and address both violence against children and violence against women, however, there are still significant gaps, particularly in how to best coordinate prevention and response. UNICEF Innocenti aims to fill these gaps by providing actionable evidence.