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Four-year-old Mirjeta (name changed) holds her toys while getting ready to go out with her mother in Tirana, Albania, in June 2018. Mirjeta’s mother was physically and mentally abused by her husband, who became violent after discovering that she was pregnant with a girl.

Violence against children

No violence against children is justifiable. All violence against children is preventable.

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An 8-year-old girl clutches a stuffed toy while sitting on the arm of a bench at a shelter in her home country..

Sexual violence against children

Sexual violence knows no boundaries. It occurs in every country, across all parts of society.

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A 16-year-old girl in Madagascar browses the Internet.

Protecting children online

Every child must be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse on the internet

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In Honduras, a fourteen-year-old boy sits at home as his mother places her palm on his back in comfort.

Protecting children from violence in school

Every child has the right to go to school and learn, free from fear.

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04 September 2024

Global Annual Results Report 2023 : Goal Area 3

As part of the broader Global Annual Results Report, the Goal Area 3 Chapter presents results on UNICEF’s child protection programme, which includes three result areas. Child protection is the prevention of, and response to, exploitation, abuse, neglect, harmful practices and violence affecting children, including...

Violence drives Haiti’s children into armed groups; up to half of all members are now children – UNICEF

PORT AU PRINCE/NEW YORK, 28 May 2024 – As armed violence continues to drive the deteriorating conditions across Haiti, the UN has estimated that 30 to 50 per cent of armed group members are children who are subject to coercion, abuse and exploitation stemming from persistent social, economic and political fra...

Amid escalating violence in Mozambique, 60,000 children displaced within a month

Maputo, Mozambique, 8 March 2024 – “In the past month, attacks and fear of attacks in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, have triggered the displacement of almost 100,000 people, including more than 60,000 children. “Children separated from their families are at risk of violence and exploitation, including recruitment and use by armed groups. “…

08 February 2024

UNICEF urges all parties to safeguard children amid latest unrest in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, 8 February 2024 – UNICEF is deeply concerned by recent reports highlighting the violence faced and witnessed by children during the current socio-political events in Haiti. We urge all stakeholders to ensure that children are protected, regardless of their situation. Protecting children should be the priority. UNICEF calls on…

06 November 2023

Statement by UNICEF on over 200 days of war leaving a generation of children in Sudan on the brink

“As we mark 200 days since the ongoing brutal war in Sudan broke out on 15 April, UNICEF calls for the redoubled commitment by the international community and all parties in the conflict to address the plight of millions of children and families who are living through a relentless nightmare day after day. Children continue to pay the highest price…

31 October 2023

Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children

GENEVA, 31 October 2023 – “From the earliest days of the unprecedented hostilities in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF has been forthright on the need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the aid to flow and for children abducted to be released. Like many others, we have pleaded for the killing of children to stop. “Our gravest fears about the…

10 October 2023

Pain & suffering engulfs children in the State of Palestine & Israel

GENEVA, 10 October 2023 – “The ongoing surge of conflict-related violence continues to take a horrendous toll on the lives of children and their families in Israel and the State of Palestine. Nothing justifies the killing, maiming or abduction of children. Any delay in bringing an end to the conflict will inevitably result in more devastating…

09 October 2023

Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on deteriorating situation for children in Israel and the State of Palestine

NEW YORK, 9 October 2023 – “Nothing justifies the killing, maiming or abducting of children – grave rights violations which UNICEF wholeheartedly condemns. “Yet less than 72 hours after the outbreak of horrific violence in Israel, reports indicate that grave rights violations against children are rampant. Many children have been killed or injured…

28 September 2023

DR Congo: Children killed, injured, abducted, and face sexual violence in conflict at record levels for third consecutive year – UNICEF

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 28 September 2023 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is on track to have record levels of verified grave violations against children for a third consecutive year in 2023. Intensifying violence, massive displacement, and proximity of armed groups to communities are ...

Global annual results report 2022 : Goal Area 3

In 2022, UNICEF scaled up child protection prevention and response programming to address the most significant risk and protective factors across the humanitarian–development–peace nexus. This included strengthening family and parenting support to prevent violence in the home; expanding our work to address online ...

Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on brutal school attack in Uganda

KAMPALA/NEW YORK, 17 JUNE 2023 – “I am outraged by the attack last night on a secondary school in Mpondwe, Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has, according to media reports, left over 40 people dead, mostly students, with others injured or abducted. “This was a heinous and unconscionable act of violence. An…

On World Poetry Day, hundreds of children affected by conflict and war share Poems for Peace

Maria, age 12, submitted a poem after leaving Odessa, Ukraine. NEW YORK, 21 March 2023 – In commemoration of World Poetry Day, hundreds of children and young people around the world have published poems to highlight their experiences of conflict and war, and to call for peace, as part of UNICEF’s Poems for Peace initiative . Now in its fourth…