Violence Against Children

Violence dramatically affects anybody, especially children, because it will reflect on their physical and mental growth and might disrupt this growth. It also might lead to serious complications and sometimes death.

Violence against children

Violence against children includes all types of physical, mental, and emotional violence against people less than 18 years old. Violence against infants and young children mainly includes physical abuse, sexual abuse (especially in females), ignorance, exploitation, and deprivation from the parents, caregivers, or any authority figures. As children grow up and become teenagers, they become more prevalent for peer violence.

Violence and injuries are the biggest factors leading to children’s deaths worldwide.

The impact of violence against children on their health

Physical or sexual violence against children leads to numerous physical and psychological aftermaths:

• An increase in mental illnesses like depression
• Violence causes a significant increase in stress in children, which, in turn, leads to an impairment in brain development and damage to the nerves and immune system. Therefore, this leads to delayed cognitive development in children, a decline in their school performance, an increase in suicidal thoughts and attempts, and an increase in drug abuse, smoking, and alcohol abuse.
• Violence against children also raises the rate of obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, and risky sexual behavior.
• The risk of having certain chronic diseases might rise as well, such as arthritis, ulcers, and migraines.
• People who were abused in their childhood are more likely to abuse people in the future.

Protecting children against violence

The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with local and international human rights organizations, is heavily seeking to stop violence in general and violence against children in particular by:

• Monitoring the violence situation and supporting the country’s efforts to document it.
• Publishing all the information related to violence against children in order to raise awareness regarding this matter.
• Publishing the reports that include the efforts that have been done to address violence against children.
• Supporting all efforts that seek to protect children and stop the violence against them.