Beatings, abuse

Three out of five children are victims of violence

According to the United Nations, hundreds of millions of children and young people worldwide experience violence in their everyday lives.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com - Olga Yastremska, New Africa, Africa Studio)

Beatings in the family, bullying at school, physical or emotional abuse and sexual assault: According to the WHO, hundreds of millions of children and young people worldwide regularly experience violence. This can have lifelong consequences ...

In most cases, the violence takes place behind closed doors. According to the WHO, more than half of two to 17-year-olds - more than one billion minors in total - experience violence every year. Three out of five children and young people experience physical violence at home, and one in five girls and one in seven boys experience sexual violence. A quarter to half of minors are reportedly affected by bullying.

Lifelong consequences for those affected
According to estimates, only half of the children talk about their experiences of violence and less than ten percent receive help. Lifelong consequences could include depression and anxiety or tobacco and drug use. As a result, many children do not reach their learning potential at school, the report continued.

"Although violence is preventable, it remains a terrible daily reality for millions of children around the world, leaving scars that last for generations," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Support for overwhelmed parents
At the first UN conference on violence against children in Bogota, Colombia, more than 100 countries have now promised to do something. Among other things, they want to provide better support for overburdened parents, set up school programs against bullying and for healthy social behavior or raise the age of marriage. Some countries want a general ban on children being beaten at school or at home.