Some 333 million children suffer from extreme poverty and 450 million live in conflict zones

The vulnerability of children to violence becomes more acute around the world due to multiple overlapping crises, in addition to 333 million living in extreme poverty and one billion suffering from multidimensional poverty.

He annual report of the UN special representative on violence against children explains that this poverty is not exclusive to the most backward countries and details that the 20% of the child population of the richest nations in the world live in poverty.

It adds that although global levels of hunger and food insecurity stabilized in 2022, 148 million children under five years of age suffer from stunted growthin addition to the fact that the global number of out-of-school children has increased by six million as of 2021, to now reach 250 million.

Among the crises that disproportionately affect the world’s children, the study lists the increase in poverty, social and economic inequalitiesforced displacement, conflict, climate change, food insecurity, widespread violence – including sexual violence -, political instability and the changing nature of national and transnational organized crime.

No country is immune

The special representative, Najat Maalla M’Jid, stated in an interview with UN News that violence against children is a problem present in every corner of the world.

“The current problem is that There is no country that is immune, no child is immunein all countries we encounter many, many forms of violence,” he said.

Maalla M’Jid noted that the same child can be a victim of various forms of violencefor example online and in different environments, “and it can be online and offline.”

In the universe of the vulnerable child population, those who bear the brunt of the multiple forms of violence are children on the move, particularly those who are unaccompanied and have been separated from their family; the stateless; those admitted to an institution; the girls; children with disabilities; those from ethnic or linguistic minorities; the indigenous; what are homeless; those who live in poverty; and those who live in areas affected by conflict or in situations of humanitarian crisis.

The report indicates that by the end of 2022, More than 450 million children, or one in six, lived in conflict zonesthe highest number in the last 20 years.

Regarding displaced children, the data suggests that they would add 48 million.

The study also highlights that the climate crisis multiplies the danger children face from violence and warns that nearly 1 billion children are now at extremely high risk of being affected by this phenomenon.

Gun violence

In the section on armed violence, the text states that the circulation of weapons, organized crime and the increase in social disparities aggravate it, claiming a large number of children’s lives.

“About 15% of homicide victims in 2021 were children”, he points out, and adds that America faces a higher risk of murders than any other region with a rate of 15 homicide victims per 100,000 inhabitants.

Online and sexual violence

Online violence is another of the big problems for children today around the world despite inequalities in Internet access.

Around 300 million children have suffered sexual exploitation and abuse online over the past 12 months and new and developing technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, pose new risks to children’s online safety.

According to the report, up to 15% of the world’s children report having been victims of cyberbullying and online dangers include, but are not limited to, exposure to violent and sexual content; the promotion of suicide and self-harming behavior; hate speech; discrimination, racism and xenophobia; organized crime and the circulation of weapons; trafficking facilitated by technology; and recruitment into criminal, armed or violent extremist groups.

Violence in the house

The report maintains that in many cases, Those who subject children to physical, emotional or sexual violence are people they trustsuch as their parents and caregivers, peers, neighbors, teachers or other community members.

Violent discipline by caregivers is the most common form of violence against children. Nearly 400 million children children under five years of age in the world often endure psychological attacks or corporal punishment in his house.

In more than a third of countries, at least 5% of young women have reported having suffered sexual violence in childhoodand around one in five adolescents has recently suffered intimate partner violence.

Invest in children

The special representative recognized that the harmful practices are decreasingbut he regretted that this decrease does not maintain a pace in line with demographic growth.

In this sense, he stressed that since violence is a result of many factors, “If they are not addressed at the source, they will not be ended or prevented. violence against children.”

“Children are not a problem to be solved, but rather an asset in which to invest. And I think if we don’t change our mindset, we’re not going to keep our promise. So I hope we do it,” concluded Najat Maalla M’Jid.