United Nations Secretary General’s
Study on Violence Against Children
Go to: http://www.violencestudy.org
WHO, UNHCHR, UNICEF
Institut fuer Friedenspaedagogik Tuebingen
Oktober 2005
Stella Schuhmacher
UNICEF NY, Child Protection
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Requested by CRC Committe
and decided by the GA.
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Final Report to be submitted
to UN General Assembly in
2006.
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Inter-agency collaboration
and support (WHO, OHCHR,
UNICEF)
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Based on Convention on the
Rights of the Child.
” Children are not mini human
beings with mini human rights. As
long as adults continue to regard
children as mini-human beings,
violence against children will
persist.”
Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
Independent Expert
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Call for meaningful child
participation in the Study
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What is the scale and
nature of violence
against children?
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What do we recommend
regarding legislation,
policies, and
programmes?
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What will motivate
States to fulfill their
obligations to children?
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How can networks and
partnerships be more
effective?
Child delegate at the Middle East and
North Africa regional consultation.
More than just a study…
Settings approach
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Home and family
Schools and educational settings
Institutions (residential care institutions,
correctional facilities, etc.)
Community (streets, clubs, sport, leisure)
Workplaces
Cross cutting issues: discrimination, media,
trafficking, FGM/C, societal attitudes.
Process
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Questionnaires for Governments
Call for submissions
Regional Consultations
Expert meetings
National and sub-regional consultations
Editorial Board
Partners
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WHO, OHCHR, UNICEF form coordinating
committee.
UN agencies, CRC Committee and other HR
mechanisms.
NGOs and civil society – NGO Advisory
Panel.
Corporate partners.
Children and young people.
What is violence?
“Witnessing violence teaches you violence and makes you hate.”
“We have no time for study and education, no
time to play and rest, we are exposed to
unsafe working conditions and we are not
protected.”
Adolescent
(North America)
Children’s Forum
Against the Most
Intolerable Forms
of Child Labor,
Bangkok, 1997
(Desk review
South Asia)
“You were not there to protect me as a child, and I’ll live with that damage
for the rest of my life. But I vow, as a young person in this society, to put
an end to this violence for the next generation. You can stand by me, or
you can turn your back.”
Youth leader, survivor and street-involved youth (desk review North America)
“They don’t really know that verbal violence is violence.”
Young participant
(Europe and Central
Asia regional
report)
Regional Consultation for Europe and Central Asia
Slovenia, 5-7 July 2005
“We the children, declare violence, whether physical [or] psychological…a
serious problem in this region; We regret that most laws to protect us are
not implemented; We regret that all countries in this region have ratified
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, however, still many children
suffer from abuse, and from the effects of occupation and war…”
(Children, MENA Regional Consultation, June 2005)
“Yes, the consultation opened many doors and mouths too!
Something that was unspeakable earlier has now been blurted
out by children who led the way in this process. I think this is
one of the great benefits of child participation.”
(Participant, South Asia Consultation, Pakistan, May, 2005)
Products/Outcomes
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Final report submitted to the Secretary
General and General Assembly end 2006
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A more elaborate report/publication
(with in-depth information and
recommendations)
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A child-friendly version of the Study report
Global Mobilisation of Partners
Challenges
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Placing violence against children at the
centre of achieving the MDG’s.
Creating synergy in partnerships – on
education, on health, on nutrition, on justice
and the law, etc.
Implementation at scale.
Gathering systematic and reliable data
across types of violence and settings.
The Protective Environment
Governmental commitment
to fulfilling protection rights
Monitoring and reporting of
child protection issues
Protective legislation and
enforcement
The Right of All
Children to a
Attitudes, traditions,
customs, behavior and
practices
Protective
Services for recovery
and reintegration
Capacity to protect
among those around
children
Environment
Open discussion and
engagement with child
protection issues
Children’s life skills,
knowledge and
participation
Protective Environment and Violence