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Protection of Children from Violence
A staggering 1.7 billion children experience violence each year and every 5 minutes a child dies as a result. Violence against children takes many forms, such as sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking, physical and humiliating punishment, harmful traditional practices (including early marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting) and recruitment into armed forces and groups.
Violence has a devastating long-term impact on children and takes place at home, in school, online, in institutions, at work, in the community, in armed conflict and in disasters. According to the Ending Violence in Childhood report, within a year, 1.3 billion boys and girls experienced corporal punishment at home, 261 million schoolchildren experienced peer violence and 18 million adolescent girls aged 15–19 experienced sexual abuse.
Violence affects children from all walks of life. Growing up with violence seriously affects a child's development, dignity, and physical and psychological integrity. And yet, in many countries a lot of violence against children remains legal and is viewed as socially acceptable.
Save the Children works with boys and men, alongside girls and women, to change attitudes, knowledge and behaviour, so violence against both girls and boys is no longer tolerated. Since violence against children can be exacerbated and extreme in conflict situations, we campaign and work to protect them from violence in these contexts.
We have Specialist Groups drawn from across the movement working across issues such as:
- Physical and Humiliating Punishment
- Sexual Violence
- Violence against Children in Conflict Situations
Photo: Simine Alam/Save the Children
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Safe Schools Declaration and Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict
The Safe Schools Declaration is an inter-governmental political commitment that provides countries the opportunity to express support for protecting students, teachers, schools, and universities from attack during times of armed conflict; the importance o
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Standing Up for Action: Protesting Violence Against Children
There is limited redress available to children affected by violence and for their families in seeking justice for these violations. Save the children supports partners and coalitions to raise awareness and advocates with key stakeholders to prevent violen
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Our Home, Safe Home
The Safe Home project started by providing residential care support to daughters of sex workers, but over the years the objective has shifted to identify community based care solutions for those children. The project is located in Daulatdia Union of Goalu
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Passing the Test- the real cost of being a student
This report examines the research undertaken by a consortium of government and non-government agencies working in Liberian schools, commissioned to research School Related Gender Based Violence. Of the students who responded and took part in the study, ne
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Animation on Say No to Sexual Violence Against Children
Published by Save the Children in Bangladesh, this animated film shows how parents, community members, and children can say no to sexual violence against children. Through simple language and instruction, viewers are taught how to recognize the signs of s
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Inter-linkages between urban poverty, lack of access to basic services, violence and their impacts on children of slums in Nepal
Finding that there is little understanding of the inter-linkages between urban poverty, lack of access to basic services, violence and their impacts on children in the slums of Nepal, Save the Children and Nepal Center for Contemporary Research (NCCR) joi
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Girls on Move
Produced by NTCF Media Group in Bangladesh, a child-led production company, with support from Save the Children, this video shares the stories of young girls who are married before the age of eighteen. Many young girls in Bangladesh are forced to abandon
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Forgotten Crisis, Forgotten Children: Millions of Yemen's Children Going Hungry
As the conflict in Yemen enters its ninth month, the situation for children and their families becomes more and more desperate with each passing day. Over 1.3 million children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition, and with the food
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Violencia, niñez y crimen organizado
Children represent one of the groups most affected by various forms of violence and violations of rights associated with organised crime. In general, the responses of States have not been sufficient to provide adequate protection to the children most affe
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Childhood free from corporal punishment- changing law and practice
“Only 5.5% of the world’s children live in countries where they are completely protected in law from all forms of corporal punishment.” This is a special progress report prepared for the high-level conference hosted by Sweden’s Ministry of Health and Soci
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Real Fathers Initiative
This document presents the Responsible, Engaged and Loving (REAL) Fathers Initiative. This initiative was created with the primary objective to develop and test a set of interventions to reduce intimate partner violence and harsh punishment of children am
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Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Guidelines for health and psychosocial service providers in humanitarian settings
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have newly developed "Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse Guidelines" for health and psychosocial providers in humanitarian settings- “CCS Guidelines”. The CCS