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STORY: UN / VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN LAUNCH
TRT: 1.50
SOURCE: UNIFEED – UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGAUGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 4 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
4 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Zoom in, dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director UNICEF:
“These ground-breaking data on the devastating dimensions of violence against children is the largest compilation to date. It shows us that no country is immune, that often violence happens in plain sight. Witnessing and not speaking out against it nor stopping it makes anyone of us complicit.”
5. Med shot, journalist
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director UNICEF:
“These are uncomfortable facts, no government or parent would like to see them. But unless we confront the reality each infuriating statistic represents, that the life and rights of a child have been violated, we will never change the widespread belief that violence against children is both normal and permissible. It is neither.”
7. Wide shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director UNICEF:
“Our message today must be that, yes, violence against children is widespread but it is not inevitable. We know how to reduce it. Supporting parents and families, changing attitudes, applying laws that protect children, all of these can help.”
9. Med shot, reporter
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection, Programme Division:
“The mandate of the SRSG on violence, UNICEF’s protection work, and others, need to be more fortified from a financial perspective. This entire mandate is voluntarily funded, including across the armed conflict agenda. So I think stepping up, you know, we’ve got the data, we’ve got the solutions, and I think member states can do much more. We are grateful for the support that we do get, don’t get me wrong, but we could certainly afford to travel our resources.”
11. Wide shot, journalists
12. Wide shot, end of presser
Violence against children is universal – so prevalent and deeply ingrained in societies it is often unseen and accepted as the norm – according to new, unprecedented data presented by the United Nations today (4 September).
A new UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, Hidden in plain sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children, draws on data from 190 countries in order to shed light on a largely undocumented issue.
At the launch of the report, the Deputy Executive Director UNICEF, Geeta Rao Gupta, said “these ground-breaking data on the devastating dimensions of violence against children is the largest compilation to date. It shows us that no country is immune, that often violence happens in plain sight. Witnessing and not speaking out against it nor stopping it makes anyone of us complicit.”
The report found that about two thirds of children worldwide between ages 2 and 14 (almost 1 billion) are subjected to physical punishment by their caregivers on a regular basis. And yet, only about one third of adults worldwide believe that physical punishment of some kind is necessary to properly raise or educate a child.
Rao Gupta said “these are uncomfortable facts, no government or parent would like to see them. But unless we confront the reality each infuriating statistic represents, that the life and rights of a child have been violated, we will never change the widespread belief that violence against children is both normal and permissible. It is neither.”
UNICEF points to six strategies to enable society as a whole, from families to Governments, to prevent and reduce violence against children. They include supporting parents and equipping children with life skills; changing attitudes; strengthening judicial, criminal and social systems and services; and generating evidence and awareness about violence and its human and socio-economic costs, in order to change attitudes and norms
Rao Gupta, who was speaking on behalf of Executive Director Anthony Lake, said “our message today must be that, yes, violence against children is widespread but it is not inevitable. We know how to reduce it. Supporting parents and families, changing attitudes, applying laws that protect children, all of these can help.”
UNICEF’s Chief of Child Protection, Susan Bissell, said that at the UN level, child protection programmes “need to be more fortified from a financial perspective.”
She said “we’ve got the data, we’ve got the solutions, and I think member states can do much more.”
The data includes new figures on violent discipline - the most common form of violence against children as well as violence against girls - widespread rates of physical and sexual abuse. It also takes a look at homicide rates - a leading cause of death among adolescent boys.
In fact, one fifth of homicide victims globally are children and adolescents under the age of 20, resulting in about 95,000 deaths in 2012, and slightly more than 1 in 3 students between the ages of 13 and 15 worldwide are regularly bullied in school.
