Today on the 20th of October thousands of children are gathering all over the world to call on governments to put an end to the daily
violence they experience. Stop beating us, stop exploiting us, stop oppressing us, is the clear message children of the world are sending on Save the Children’s Day of
Action organised by Save the Children Alliance Task Group on Violence against Children. Children from over 30 countries are demonstrating to end violence against them. Only 2.4 per cent of
the world’s children have the same legal protection against violence as adults.
40 million children under the age of 15 are victims of violence every year. 60 million females,
mostly from Asia, are “missing” – killed by infanticide, selective abortion, and deliberate lack of nutrition or healthcare. 106 countries permit corporal punishment in schools
and 147 within alternative care settings. Two thirds of all mothers in the UK admit to smacking their babies before they are one year old. In Afghanistan, 82 per cent of children report having
been slapped, kicked or beaten. Adult’s violence against children is common all over the world. "I was beaten every day at school and every night I went home and cried. In the end
I was too scared to go anymore. No child in Uganda should be hit," says Michael, 12 year old from Uganda.
Save the Children’s Day of Action is the largest global campaign by
children.
It comes as governments worldwide meet at the UN to decide whether to take historic action to end violence against children. Last year on Save the Children’s Day
of Action, children in over 30 countries around the world staged events to protest against all forms of violence suffered by children, including physical and humiliating punishment, sexual abuse and
exploitation, early marriage, neglect and torture. The children of the world are uniting to call upon their government to make ending violence against children a top priority. "It is
high time the Government legislated to protect their most vulnerable citizens from violence. Subjecting children to physical or sexual violence can have horrific consequences that can last throughout
their lives. In long terms violence against children develops negative and costly effects for the whole society. The world’s governments must now act to show that violence is not the
answer," says Gabriella Olofsson, coordinator global child protection at Save the Children Sweden.
Worldwide campaign
Children from the following
countries will through different activities protest against violence against them: Lithuania, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Romania, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Kenya,
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Yemen, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Fiji and Papuan New Guinea.
For more
information
For more information on the Global Day of Action and the kind of activities children in the 30 different countries will make, please call the Press Officer Kristina Granqvist
at Save the Children Sweden +46 8 698 90 90, or email press@rb.se.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Displaced Christian children do their homework in a room in al-Saida monastery in Al-Qosh village, 45 km (28 miles) north of Mosul October 18, 2008. Christians have become targets of sectarian ...
