Preventing violence against children

Cosmas Odoemena

In a new publication, Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children 2020, launched June 18, 2020, via a webinar which I participated in, the World Health Organization (WHO) says approximately 1 billion children or half of the world’s children are affected by “physical, sexual or psychological violence, suffering injuries, disabilities and death, because countries have failed to follow established strategies to protect them.”

The WHO, added that “Exposure to violence can harm a child’s emotional, psychological and even physical development. Children exposed to violence are more likely to have difficulty in school, abuse drugs or alcohol, act aggressively, suffer from depression or other mental health problems and engage in criminal behavior as adults.”  Even diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases later in life have been linked to poor coping and health risk behaviours that are related to violence.

The report is jointly published by the WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the End Violence Partnership.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General was categorical in his statement: “There is never any excuse for violence against children,” and that “We have evidence-based tools to prevent it, which we urge all countries to implement. Protecting the health and well-being of children is central to protecting our collective health and well-being, now and for the future.”

This is the first time a report like this has been released. It charts progress in 155 countries against what is called the “INSPIRE” framework, which is a set of seven strategies geared towards preventing violence against children. They are Implementation and enforcement of laws; Norms and values; Safe environments; Parent and caregiver support; Income and economic strengthening; Response and support services; and Education and life skills.

The report urges all countries to double their efforts to implement them. While majority of the countries (88%), have laws to protect children against violence, less than half of this number (47%), strongly enforce these laws.

For the first time, it reported data on global homicide estimates for children below 18 years of age. Which gave that in 2017, about 40,000 children suffered homicide.

Among the speakers was the UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore who took a while to connect. She said “Violence against children has always been pervasive, and now things could be getting much worse.”

Fore went on to say “Lockdowns, school closures and movement restrictions have left far too many children stuck with their abusers, without the safe space that school would normally offer. It is urgent to scale up efforts to protect children during these times and beyond, including by designating social service workers as essential and strengthening child helplines.”

According to the report, of the seven key strategies for curbing violence against children, only school enrollment showed the best progress, with 54% of countries giving children the opportunity to go to school.

Between 32% to 37% of countries reckoned that victims of violence could get support services, while 26% of countries had programmes on parent and caregiver support; 21% of countries had programmes that could change norms that are harmful; and 15% of countries had ways to make the physical environment of children safe.

Though most of the countries (83%) have data on violence against children that they could fall back on, just 21% use them to fix national targets and baselines from which to confront violence against children.

A good number of countries (80%) have individual country plan of action and policies, but only one-fifth have plans backed up by funds or have targets that are measurable. It’s believed that poor funding, together with insufficient professional capacity is likely responsible for the slow implementation.

The report also dwelt on the COVID-19 response and its impact on children. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, and the related school closures, we have seen a rise in violence and hate online – and this includes bullying. Now, as schools begin to re-open, children are expressing their fears about going back to school,” said Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that schools are safe environments for all children. We need to think and act collectively to stop violence at school and in our societies at large.”

The report noted that the normal support for families and persons like the extended family, friends or professionals has been limited by stay-at-home measures including school closures.

Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children said “Whilst this report was being finalized, confinement measures and the disrupted provision of already limited child protection services exacerbated the vulnerability of children to various forms of violence.” Continuing further she said “To respond to this crisis a unified, child rights and multisectoral framework for action for children is critical requiring a strong mobilization of governments, bilateral/multilateral donors, civil society, private sector and children, whose views must be heard and truly taken into account to ensure duly protection and the possibility for all to thrive and reach their full potential.”

Going forward, WHO and its partners commit to continue to collaborate with countries to “fully implement the INSPIRE strategies by enhancing coordination, developing and implementing national action plans, prioritizing data collection, and strengthening legislative frameworks.” WHO also stressed that  Global action is required to make sure the needed financial and technical support is there for all countries. It also said Monitoring and evaluation are very critical in determining the level to which all these measures are successfully provided to countries that need them.

In Nigeria, violence to children is a national malaise, with varying dimensions. UNICEF says six out of every ten children in Nigeria suffer one or more forms of physical, sexual or emotional violence before their 18th birthday. Physical violence like kicking, punching, whipping, choking, burning, attempting to drown, threatening or being beaten with a weapon; one in four girls and one in ten boys have gone through sexual violence; one in five boys and one in six girls experience emotional violence.

Early on in President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term in 2015, he said his government was committed to ending violence against children. To this end, he launched a Year of Action, calling on stakeholders and everyone to take action to make sure that no child experiences violence.

President Muhammadu Buhari went a step further on 25 October 2016, to launch the Campaign to End Violence Against Children by 2030, and declared: “To children in Nigeria: on this historic day, we make a pledge – we commit to protecting each and every one of you from violence.” But since then it remains to be seen if much has been achieved. The insurgency mainly in the Northeastern part of Nigeria has effected especially children under five causing malnutrition, stunted growth and other physical and psychological illnesses. Even young children are drafted as combatants. Many of the Chibok girls are still missing. Leah Sharibu has still not been released. These are blights on the nation’s collective consciousness.

As Dr Howard Taylor of End Violence Partnership made clear, “Ending violence against children is the right thing to do, a smart investment to make, and it’s possible. It is time to fully fund comprehensive national action plans that will keep children safe at home, at school, online and in their communities.” He stressed that “We can and must create a world where every child can thrive free from violence and become a new generation of adults to experience healthy and prosperous lives.”  This is a task we must accomplish for the children of the world.

Dr Odoemena, medical practitioner writes from Lagos