Work to be done: Ending violence against children

A recent report on the global prevalence of violence against children in the past year has shown that  more than half of the children in 96 countries across the world —1 billion children aged 2–17 years—experienced violence in the past year. Violence against children is a human rights violation. It makes people more likely to fall ill, and to  experience and perpetrate violence in their adult lives. In other words, violence is passed on through generations - even genetically, as it can alter a child's genes.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) call for an end to “abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children” (SDG 16.2) and to “eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation” (SDG 5.2). SDG 4 on education refers to the importance of promoting non-violence in several sub-goals, e.g. by calling for a non-violent environment for education (SDG 4.a).

With probably more than half of the world's children experiencing violence, major efforts are needed to attain the SDGs. For inspiration, have a look at UNICEF's Six Strategies for Action. If you know of any useful resources to share, please post a comment and share.

In Memoriam: Alice Miller (1923-2010)

Last week Alice Miller died. The Swiss psychologist, who achieved international fame with her 1979 book The Drama of the Gifted Child and subsequent publications, devoted her professional life to research on child abuse and its consequences. Alice Miller's books, translated into 30 languages, show how child abuse and violent behaviour in adult life - such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, even terrorism and political dictatorship - are interrelated.