Better data needed to end violence against children, UN panel says

United Nations experts called today for better data and research on violence against children, including discipline in the home, as a means to strengthen government action for prevention and to support legal prohibitions.

“Too often violence against children remains hidden behind a pervasive culture of silence,” Marta Santos-Pais, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative on Violence Against Children, said of a panel discussion she hosted at UN Headquarters in New York.

“Without good data, national planning is compromised, effective policy-making and resource mobilization are hampered, and targeted interventions are limited in their ability to prevent and combat violence against children.”

Ms. Santos-Pais stressed the absolute need for children to be registered at birth, noting that every year 50 million births remain unregistered.

“Children who are not counted do not count,” she told the panellists. “They do not count for policy making, they do not count in budgetary decisions, they do not count where their rights are violated.”

Organized together with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the event highlighted new evidence about children's exposure to violence in low- and middle-income countries.

The preliminary findings of a new UNICEF report on Child Disciplinary Practices at Home reveal that three out of every four surveyed experience some form of violent discipline, about half experience some form of physical punishment and three in four experience psychological aggression.

“Most violence that is inflicted upon children is committed in the home and thus tends to be hidden,” UNICEF Chief of Child Protection Susan Bissell said. “This report seeks to bring the extent of violent disciplinary practices out of the shadows to promote positive disciplinary practices and participatory forms of child-rearing.”

Existing studies suggest that exposing a child to violent discipline has harmful consequences for the victim as well as the society in which he or she lives. They show that even mild forms of physical discipline are harmful to children, hindering their cognitive capacity and increasing the proclivity for future violent acts.

Violent psychological discipline, including ridicule, threats and intimidation, has also been shown to have a range of negative behavioural impacts in childhood and beyond.

Although physical punishment is widespread, in most countries, the majority of primary caregivers do not think there is a need for it. On average, only one in four caregivers believes that physical punishment is needed to properly bring up a child.

“A comprehensive, well coordinated and resourced national strategy to address violence against children in all its forms needs to be implemented in all countries and grounded on sound data and analysis,” Ms. Santos-Pais said.