Background
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children (SRSG-VAC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) officially launched a joint ‘Strategy to End Violence Against Children' on 28 November 2023 at a high-level event in Vienna. It marks a significant step forward in global efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children.
The Strategy focuses on serious forms of violence against children, which should be criminalized according to international law to ensure the fulfilment, respect, and protection of child rights. It also focuses on institutional and structural forms of violence, including but not limited to the unnecessary use of deprivation of liberty and the treatment of children in contact with the justice system through punitive approaches, recognizing that there are four priority contexts where children are often exposed to crime and violence:
CONTEXTS OF INSECURITY including contexts of (protracted) armed conflict, organized crime, terrorism, and other forms of prevalent crime and violence which leave society fragile and increase vulnerabilities.
JUSTICE SYSTEMS including both criminal justice systems and justice systems intended to protect and support children in which they may appear as victims or witnesses and/or alleged as, accused of or recognized as having infringed the penal law.
CYBERSPACE where children can be, and often are, victims of crime, interpersonal violence, online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and can be recruited for criminal purposes.
CHILDREN ON THE MOVE as a result of extreme poverty, conflict, organized crime or climate-related events. Interventions in this context will focus on children on the move who are victims of trafficking (and related forms of exploitation), subject to smuggling and children detained for immigration-related reasons.
Together with partners, the OSRSG-VAC and UNODC are committed to transforming this vision into a tangible reality to ensure a safer and more caring world for our children.
More Resources:
