Supporting parents and helping families to be strong and caring is one of the proven solutions to end violence against children. In stark contrast, when families and parents are resilient and helped to cope with crises like COVID the shield stays strong and children are protected from violence. Over 80% of children in our report said that families have grown closer in times of crisis and that their parents and families were there for them. Measures to combat COVID-19 have created a perfect storm exposing parents to stress and increasing the vulnerability of children to violence, especially those already living in violent households. This is exactly what happened this past year. Physical violence, child marriage and sexual exploitation of children all increase. But when that shield is under extreme duress - due to mental illness, substance abuse, economic crisis or hardship - it cracks and children often find themselves in the firing line. Parents are a child’s most important support mechanism and should be a shield from violence. Home is the one place where every child should feel safe. Children put actions to address this threat high on their agenda-hardly a surprise. The report Act Now: How a Global Pandemic is Changing the Lives of Children in the Middle East and Eastern Europe Region, indicates that about 40% of children have experienced physical violence themselves and that 20% know of other children experiencing violence by those they know. Every time we have spoken to children, like we did recently across Middle East and Eastern Europe, our worst fears have been confirmed. I wanted us to be wrong and our projections of a 32% increase in violence to be a significant overstatement. However, millions of children globally who were trapped, stuck at home by COVID-19 did not. It was Sara I was thinking about when I started seeing news reports about the increase in violence at home due to the lockdown-first on my local news in Cyprus, then on international news channels.Īfter just one month of the pandemic, World Vision published a report projecting that 85 million more children are at risk of experiencing violence against children due the confinement measures initiated to address pandemic. Making projections like this can be tricky. We knew the risks, but we strongly felt that it was important to raise the alarm about a hidden crisis that was unfolding, that our staff was starting to see. She was trying to help a young girl, I’ll call her Sara, struggling with mental health issues resulting from violence at home and in school. Thankfully Sara eventually found help. Just few weeks before the world went into lockdown, a friend of mine contacted me asking for advice.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |