BANGKOK (AlertNet) – The United Nations’ special representative on violence against children this week urged countries globally to ratify two protocols protecting the world’s youngest people, as she visited the East Asia and Pacific region where over
16/01/2012
BANGKOK (AlertNet)
– The United Nations’ special representative on violence against children this week urged countries globally to ratify two protocols protecting the world’s youngest people, as she visited the East Asia and Pacific region where over one in four children have been sexually abused.
Marta Santos Pais called on governments to ratify the two
optional protocols
to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child
to help stem what UNICEF, the U.N.’s children’s agency, calls a "growing abuse and exploitation of children worldwide."
These optional protocols relate to the
sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
and to the
involvement of children in armed conflict
.
"Ratification is the beginning of a never-ending process of prevention, awareness-raising and capacity-building of professionals (social workers, lawyers, health workers) who may be the first interact with the child in case of abuse," she said.
So far some 40 odd countries have yet to ratify both of them, almost half of them from East Asia and Pacific, including Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Brunei and many of the Pacific Island countries. In Europe, Finland and Ireland are two that have not yet ratified both of
the protocols.
In the East Asia and Pacific region, home to 580 million children, boys and girls suffering from sexual abuse in almost equal numbers. These similar statistics for boys and girls are an anomaly, as globally victims of sexual violence are more often girls and women.
In Europe, in comparison, one in five children is a victim of some form of sexual violence, Pais said.
“I think we should be shocked even if it was only one child (who has been sexually abused), but over one in four children is such a high prevalence that you should be dramatically worried,” she said.
“This is a pattern we see reflected in many parts of the world,” said Pais, who was in Thailand’s capital for a visit. “It shows that children have not been a priority and sexual violence (against them) has not been given the sufficient attention.”
In Africa, national studies in Ethiopia, South Africa and Swaziland show that between
30 and 40 percent
of girls suffer from sexual abuse and violence before they are 18 years old, UNICEF says.
But available data may simply be the tip of the iceberg, Pais added.
CHILDREN NOT PROTECTED
Like in other parts of the world, a lack of data hampers child-protection efforts in the East Asia and Pacific region. The invisibility of child abuse, especially when it happens within the confines of a home, makes it more difficult to collect data, Pais said.
“Without the data, it is difficult to convince people how important it is to set up services... and in having a system ready to help families that may be at risk of suffering and provoking violence,” she said.
“According to available data that we have in most regions, most cases happen at home, schools or care institutions, settings where children are expected to be protected.”
Parents and fam