“In all countries, we are finding many forms of violence:” One in eight girls and women alive today experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, UN says
In a report released on Thursday, Najat Maalla M’Jid said that violence against children had reached unprecedented levels.
“Millions of children worldwide are victims of physical, sexual, and psychological violence both online and offline, including child labor, child marriage, female genital mutilation, gender-based violence, trafficking, bullying, and cyberbullying, among many others,” she said.
According to the report many more children are vulnerable to violence due to what it calls “multidimensional poverty.”
Half of the world’s children, around one billion, are identified as “at high risk” of being affected by the climate crisis.
One in six young people worldwide are also growing up in conflict zones.
“This is a pivotal moment. Violence against children has reached unprecedented levels, caused by multifaceted and interconnected crises,”, Ms. M’Jid said.
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“The problem currently is that no country is immune, no child is immune. In all countries, we are finding many forms of violence,” Ms. M’Jid stated, adding that “you can have the same child who is victim of various forms of violence in various settings.”
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Figures released by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, ahead of International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, estimate that more than 370 million girls and women alive today, or one in eight, experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18.
When ‘non-contact’ forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse are included, the number of girls and women affected rises to 650 million, according to UNICEF.
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And sadly it certainly doesn’t stop when you pass the 18 mark. Some minor forms of sexual assault seem to possibly even increase because you now have access to places like bars and clubs (although I do wonder if major forms increase too because these are places you can get roofied fairly easily).