Violence against children – some as young as one year old – is pervasive in homes, schools and communities, new report with disturbing data reveals 

(Photo courtesy of UNICEF)

Staggering numbers of children – some as young as 12 months old – are experiencing violence, often by those entrusted to take care of them, UNICEF said in a new report released today.

“The harm inflicted on children around the world is truly worrying,” said UNICEF Chief of Child Protection Cornelius Williams. “Babies slapped in the face; girls and boys forced into sexual acts; adolescents murdered in their communities – violence against children spares no one and knows no boundaries.”

Violence against young children in their homes:

• Three-quarters of the world’s 2- to 4-year-old children – around 300 million – experience psychological aggression and/or physical punishment by their caregivers at home;

• Worldwide, 1 in 4 children under age five – 176 million – are living with a mother who is a victim of intimate partner violence.

(Photo courtesy of UNICEF)

Sexual violence against girls and boys:

• Worldwide, around 15 million adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts in their lifetime.

• Only 1 per cent of adolescent girls who had experienced sexual violence said they reached out for professional help.

Violent deaths among adolescents:

• Globally, every 7 minutes an adolescent is killed by an act of violence.

• In the United States, non-Hispanic black boys aged 10 to 19 years old are almost 19 times more likely to be murdered than non-Hispanic white boys of the same age. If the homicide rate among non-Hispanic black adolescent boys is applied nationwide, the United States would be one of the top ten most deadly countries in the world.

• In 2015, the risk of being killed by homicide for a non-Hispanic black adolescent boy in the United States was the same as the risk of being killed due to collective violence for an adolescent boy living in war-torn South Sudan.

• Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region where adolescent homicide rates have increased; nearly half of all homicides among adolescents globally occurred in this region in 2015.

Violence in schools:

• Half the population of school-age children – 732 million – live in countries where corporal punishment at school is not fully prohibited.

• Three-quarters of documented school shootings that have taken place over the past 25 years occurred in the United States.

To end violence against children, UNICEF is calling for governments to take urgent action and support the INSPIRE guidance which has been agreed and promoted by WHO, UNICEF and the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.