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Seeing Beyond Violence: Main report text

Objectives and Methodology
8
2 Objectives
and
Methodology
2.1 The Objectives of the study
2.1.1
A world without violence would be . . . ?
"The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 40 million children below the
age of 15 suffer from abuse and neglect, and require health and social care."7
"More than 3.3 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 are reported to witness
domestic violence in the US each year.
Boys who witness violence against their mothers are ten times more likely to abuse their
female partners as adults, than boys raised in non-violent homes.
Children from homes where domestic violence occurs are physically or sexually abused
or seriously neglected at a rate 1500% higher then the national average.
Women are 8 times more likely to hurt their children when they are being abused than
when they are safe from violence.
Children may indirectly receive injuries: they may be struck by thrown objects or weap-
ons, infants may suffer injuries if being held by their mother when the abuse strikes out,
older children may receive injuries while protecting their mother.
Psychological and emotional effects suffered by children who witness domestic violence
include depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, phobias, withdrawal, lowered self-
esteem, overt psychoses, guilt, fear of abandonment, self-blame.
Commonly reported psychosomatic complaints are headaches, abdominal pains, stutter-
ing, bed-wetting, and sleep disturbances.
Children from violent homes are at high risk of drug and alcohol abuse and juvenile de-
linquency. Male children exhibit a high rate of aggressive behavior."8
We live in a world in which violence against children can no longer be marginalised as
aberrant or pathological behaviour but appears to be endemic. Some of this violence takes
the form of direct assault; both physical and psychological but increasingly we are aware
that there other forms of violence against children that are economic, institutional and
structural, for example:
· Deprivation of Education
"More than 121 million children of primary age worldwide are out of school; almost 65
million of them are girls."9

7 UNICEF: Child protection. Violence. http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_violence.html
8 Statistics of Domestic Violence on Children, © 2004 City of Kent, Washington, from update 09
January 2004
9 UNICEF (2004): The State of the World's Children 2004 - Girls' Education and Development.
Action: "25 by 2005", http://www.unicefusa.org/_education/action.html

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Objectives and Methodology
9
· Early Marriage
"It is hard to know the number of early marriages as so many are unregistered and unof-
ficial. There are exceptions such as Bangladesh, where a survey in 1996-97 reported that
five per cent of 10 to 14 year-olds were married.
Small-scale studies and anecdotal information fill in the picture. They imply that mar-
riage at a very young age is wide-spread:
- A 1998 survey in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh found that nearly 14 per
cent of girls were married between the ages of 10 and 14.
- In Ethiopia and in parts of West Africa, marriage at the age of seven or eight is
not uncommon.
- In Kebbi State in northern Nigeria, the average age of marriage for girls is just
over 11 years, against a national average of 17."10
· Armed Conflict
"An estimated 20 million children have been forced to flee their homes because of con-
flict and human rights violations and are living as refugees in neighbouring countries or
are internally displaced within their own national borders.
More than 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict over the last
decade.
More than three times that number, at least 6 million children, have been permanently
disabled or seriously injured.
More than 1 million have been orphaned or separated from their families. Between 8,000
and 10,000 children are killed or maimed by landmines every year." 11
· Birth Registration
"South Asia has the largest number of unregistered children, with approximately 22.5
million, or over 40 per cent of the world's unregistered births in 2000. Sub-Saharan Af-
rica has 17 million unregistered children, representing 70 per cent of births. In South
Asia 63 per cent of births went unregistered in 2000. In the Middle East and North Af-
rica, nearly one-third of the children born in 2000 (around three million) were unregis-
tered, while in East Asia and the Pacific 22 per cent of births were not registered."12
· Child labour
"Millions of girls work as domestic servants and unpaid household help and are espe-
cially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Millions of others work under horrific cir-
cumstances. They may be trafficked (1.2 million), forced into debt bondage or other
forms of slavery (5.7 million), into prostitution and pornography (1.8 million), into par-
ticipating in armed conflict (0.3 million) or other illicit activities (0.6 million). However,
the vast majority of child labourers ­ 70 per cent or more ­ work in agriculture."13

10 UNICEF: Child Protection. Early Marriage. http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_
earlymarriage.html
11 ibid: Armed Conflict. http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_armedconflict.html
12 ibid: Birth registration. http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_birthregistration.html
13 ibid: Child labour. http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour.html

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