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Posts tagged Children
Children, Violence, and Vulnerability 2024

By The Youth Endowment Fund

In this year’s survey, 20% of teenage children told us they’ve been a victim of violence in the past 12 months. Over half (61%) of these incidents led to physical injury, equating to 440,000 children in England and Wales. For some, these experiences are not one-off. Of all teenagers who were victims of violence, 65% had it happen multiple times within the year, with nearly a third (31%) — or 5% of all 13-17-year-olds — reporting it occurred more than five times. Children commit violence in reaction to others. 16% of children have been a perpetrator of violence. Many of the 16% of children who committed violence cited reactive motivations. For instance, 36% acted out of annoyance, humiliation or feeling threatened, while 29% retaliated for previous violence. Bullying is a significant factor for 25% of respondents, and 17% report engaging in violence for self-defence or due to rivalries related to gangs, neighbourhoods or schools. Half (49%) of all children who perpetrated violence in the past year have also been a victim themselves. Experiences of violence are concentrated among the most vulnerable. This year’s report sheds new light on children at risk of exploitation, revealing even more concerning links between vulnerability and violence. Children who went missing from home were five times more likely to engage in violence, while those approached to transport or store drugs and weapons were six times more likely. Gang involvement and carrying weapons further escalated these risks, with children in gangs or those carrying weapons being seven times more likely to commit acts of violence than their peers. Children struggling in education are also particularly vulnerable. Those who are persistently absent, suspended, excluded or attending alternative education settings are far more likely to be victims of and to engage in violent behaviour than their peers. A relatively small number are driven to carry weapons. 5% of children aged 13-17 say they have carried a weapon in the past year. Although the possession, sale and supply of zombie-style knives and machetes are now illegal in the UK, only a small proportion of those who’ve carried weapons (17%) admit to carrying such knives before the ban. Kitchen and other types of knives are much more likely to be carried. Other items carried include screwdrivers or stabbing implements (25%) and sticks, clubs or hitting implements (24%). Younger teenagers aged 13-15 are more likely to carry weapons compared to those aged 16-17. Nearly half (47%) of those who carry a weapon do so for self-protection. Others cited being asked by someone else (37%), scaring others (31%) or following the behaviour of their peers (18%).

London: Youth Endowment Fund, 2024. 

Evidence on Pornography’s Influence on Harmful Sexual Behavior Among Children

By The Children’s Commissioner for England

This is the second in a series of reports investigating the impact of pornography on young people, building upon the Children’s Commissioner’s report published in January 2023, “A lot of it is actually just abuse”, which set out findings from a survey of over a thousand 16-21-year-olds and focus groups with teenagers. This series of work shows the detrimental effect that pornography is having on children and young people. It adds weight to the Children’s Commissioner’s view that no child under the age of 18 should be able to access pornography. This report aimed to discover whether references to specific acts of sexual violence commonly seen in pornography could be found in official documents relating to the investigation of children who abused other children. It is not intended to be read by children, but by researchers and policy makers interested in making children safer. It makes frequent reference to sexual harassment and sexual violence, and includes descriptions of pornographic content, language, and discussion of sexual abuse. This content may be difficult to read, however, we think it is important to understand how pornography impacts children, in order that we may better protect all children from harm. The research contained within this report synthesises data from 502 documents of two types: 379 Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) transcripts of interviews with children who have been sexually harmed and children who have sexually harmed another child, from one police force, and 123 Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) documents concerning children who were sexually harmed by other children from one NHS foundation trust.   

London: Children's Commissioner for England, 2023. 58p.

Children’s Involvement in Organized Violence: Emerging Trends and Knowledge Gaps Based on Evidence From Different Fields and Areas of Expertise

By Gary Risser and Camila Teixeira, with support from Bo Viktor Nylund and Jasmina Byrne.

Throughout much of history, organizations have used violence as a political weapon, exploited it for criminal gain and leveraged it for social change. Children’s involvement in organized violence has persisted equally as long. They have been used and exploited by a range of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and national armed forces to take part in combat, to commit other forms of violence in the context of armed conflict and to fulfil other purposes. They have also become members of organized criminal groups and, more recently, have been targeted by online networks that promote violence for all manner of causes. . Children in the global polycrisis: Increasing risks of their participation in organized violence? What is organized violence? This working paper uses the term ‘organized violence’ to refer to “the intentional use of physical force, threatened or actual, against another person or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation. This violent act is committed by a member of a group of three or more people at any time with a common purpose and knowledge violence will be used to pursue it.” For the purposes of this paper, only armed non-state actors are considered. In the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF’s) programme and policy work, ‘armed non-state actors’ is used as a broad term that covers all armed groups operating in conflict and non-conflict situations. UNICEF then analyses these groups and places them in a typology based on a set of organizational and contextual characteristics. This working paper and a closed-door round table that preceded it (see Section II below), however, drew on the information and expertise of publications and experts that focus on more delineated subdivisions of armed non-state actors. The purpose of the round table was to bring these communities of experts together to share their insights on the involvement of children in these armed non-state actors, to document emerging commonalities and differences, and to identify areas for future foresight analysis and research. This working paper therefore includes three subsets of violent actors: NSAGs in armed conflict situations, including those who are designated or otherwise labelled as insurgents, terrorists and violent extremists and who usually operate in situations of armed conflict. Organized criminal groups, including street gangs and organizations that traffic in arms, drugs or people. These groups are not typically parties to armed conflict, even though some will be operating in places affected by conflict. Emerging loose networks that may have an online-only or hybrid online/offline presence, an unclear leadership hierarchy and limited rules. These are sometimes referred to as ‘post organizational’ groups. These three subcategories are not mutually exclusive. Some violent groups, for example, may be simultaneously engaged in combat against a government while producing narcotics and loosely coordinating with other branches of the group through social media applications. The vulnerability of children to involvement in organized violence may be getting more complex, or at least may be changing. The world is facing a confluence of multiple global shocks that have cascaded to affect and amplify each other. While most countries were still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a war in Ukraine which began in 2014 greatly escalated, exacerbating global inflation, energy shortfalls and food insecurity. The latest intensification of hostilities in Israel and the State of Palestine has led to further volatility in the Middle East. Other countries in which conflict has erupted or intensified since 2019 include Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Myanmar and the Sudan. Meanwhile, the long-term challenge of climate change continues unabated. This convergence of global shocks – sometimes called a ‘global polycrisis’ – has had many harmful effects, some of which may present more serious risks to children. This global dynamic has created or exacerbated a number of conditions which affect children and families locally, including economic hardship, rising political tension, anger towards and fear of migrants, frustration with climate insecurity, and the use of new weapons in conflicts that might eventually spread to other crises. All of these conditions have the potential to amplify tensions that may lead to organized violence. In many cases, these shocks have also taken place in contexts with weak governance and inadequate systems to protect children and their rights, further increasing vulnerabilities. This global context is, furthermore, marked by a diversification and fragmentation of armed actors that pursue old and new causes while choosing to organize and operate in different ways. Some of these armed groups hold territory and challenge the state over governance. The Islamic State achieved this briefly in some locations in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic. Meanwhile, armed groups in Haiti and, until recently, El Salvador have continued to pose challenges to governments in particular neighbourhoods or provinces. In Afghanistan, the Taliban, a former NSAG, removed the government and took control of the country, though it is now battling an Islamic State-linked armed group itself. Territorial control can be important to group identity.6 Some armed groups rely on a networked ‘franchise’ structure, calling for different affiliated groups to form, pursue a common cause and launch attacks when advantageous but without coming under a central chain of command. Still others may orchestrate attacks while hiding among local communities or in the anonymity of the online world. Groups in the latter category may pursue this less structured type of organization when they are dispersed, unable to mobilize and hold territory, or uninterested in challenging the government for control. Some groups, including right-wing groups and the Islamic State, have declared this to be a particular strategy in their area of operation. The children involved in organized violence themselves are members of a significant new generation, Generation Z. In many countries, they are the first generation to have been born into and to have grown up in a digital world. They are also a generation that is struggling with increased mental health challenges. They must grapple with misinformation and disinformation in a ‘post-truth’ era, as well as the effects of algorithmic echo chambers that amplify opinions and trends. For some, engagement in digital realms enables greater social interaction, free from stigma or preconceptions. For others, however, the predominance of digital over in-person social interaction could lead to increased isolation and loneliness, feelings compounded by pandemic-driven lockdowns.8 Generation Alpha – people born from 2014 onwards – are the next group that could be drawn into organized violence, though how they will develop during their adolescence and what influences will predominate remains a matter of discussion. The involvement of children in acts of violence does not usually happen overnight. The diversity of individual trajectories suggests that it is necessary to understand the various manifestations of the phenomenon, from children demonstrating curiosity about ideas to their committing a violent act In addition, children’s engagement with violent groups or participation in violent acts is often not preceded by their accepting or adhering to an ideology. We must explore how these situations of child involvement in organized violence unfold through various pathways.   

Florence, Italy:  UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight , 2024. 40p.

Intersections Between Violence Against Children and Violence Against Women

By WHO - The World Health Organization

There is growing global recognition of the intersections between violence against women and violence against children. The current evidence shows intersections between intimate partner violence against women and violence against children by parents or caregivers, but limited evidence is available on the links between other forms of violence against women and violence against children. Both violence against women by their (male) intimate partners and violence against children by parents or caregivers are widespread globally. This report describes the process used to determine the priorities for research on the intersections between violence against children and violence against women, and the top 10 research questions identified.

Geneva: WHO, 2024. 41p.

Violence Against Children in The European Union: Current Situation: In-Depth Analysis 18-10-2024

By Martina Prpic with Melissa Eichhorn

Violence against children takes various forms and occurs in different contexts. It can have serious, harmful consequences in both the short and long term, and estimates of the scale of the problem are alarming. Resulting from a complex interaction of various risk factors, this violence can nevertheless be avoided through effective prevention policies. Several international instruments have been adopted to safeguard and promote children's rights. The cornerstone in this framework of instruments is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 19 of which lays down the right of a child to be protected from all forms of violence and the obligation on states to take all appropriate measures to protect children. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the protection of children's rights has been explicitly recognized as an objective that the EU has an obligation to pursue. While child protection systems fall mainly within the responsibility of the EU Member States, the EU itself plays an important role too. Its actions have a direct impact on laws and policies implemented at the national level. Enhanced cooperation between all stakeholders and the exchange of best practices are the routes taken to address the issue.

EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service 2024. 31p.

Family Conflict and Violence, Family Separation and Negligence Towards Children

By Clarissa

The Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme uses Action Research (AR) to understand the dynamics which drive the worst forms of child labour (WFCL), and to generate participatory innovations which help to shift these underlying dynamics and mitigate their worst effects. Through 13 Action Research Groups (ARGs) in Bangladesh and 12 groups in Nepal, the programme is generating a rich understanding – particularly through children’s lived experiences – of the complex underlying drivers of harmful work and working children and their employers are themselves defining, piloting and evaluating their innovative actions that aim to increase children’s options to avoid WFCL.  

Bangladesh Action Research Group 13 Brighton: Institute of Development Studies