Crimes Against Child Victims

How was your childhood?
It may come to mind, after this question, a series of rosy memories and fine days in which we had no clear idea of life and its difficulties, but what about the other side of this question?

What about those whose childhood memories were filled with violence? Who lived the hardships of life and were subjected to various forms of exploitation since their earliest babyhood? Labels and manifestations may differ, but the concept of violence against children is the same.

The Definition of Violence Against Children

It is a practice that is classified as a form of human rights violation and varies to include various manifestations of violence, harm, physical or mental abuse, neglect, maltreatment, and exploitation, including sexual abuse. It is against people under 18 years old.

When we ask about the perpetrators of these forms of violence, we will find the diversity of people involved to include the closest parties to the child, namely parents and family, in addition to other parties such as caregivers and peers, as well as some institutions. [1]

Types of Violence Against Children

1- Maltreatment and Violent Punishment: It may be natural for some families to consider violence against children to be a form of cruelty that is essential for better educational outcomes. The reason for adopting this method is either due to cultural circulation to which one or both parents were exposed during their childhood or due to the reasons related to the unstable psychological status of the parents, such as economic stress, drug or alcohol abuse, or other reasons such as the lower level of education.
This classification includes various forms of physical, sexual, and psychological violence in addition to neglect. This approach is not limited to parents but extends to include caregivers and other authority figures, as in schools and orphanages.

2- Sexual violence: includes non-consensual completed or attempted sexual contact and acts of a sexual nature not involving contact (such as voyeurism or sexual harassment). Due to the spread of social media and its reach into the hands of children, sexual predators have a new outlet to achieve these goals; as we note the recent spread of online exploitation. Another form of sexual violence is the acts of sex trafficking against children and use in prostitution where the child has no right to refuse or accept.

3- Emotional or psychological violence: It includes non-physical forms that are no less important than other forms, such as restricting the child’s movements, denigration, and ridicule, as well as threats, intimidation, and discrimination.

4- Intimate partner violence: involves physical, sexual, and emotional violence by an intimate partner. It commonly occurs against girls in child marriages and early/forced marriages. The same applies among romantically involved but unmarried adolescents; it is sometimes called “dating violence”.

5- Domination or bullying: unwanted aggressive behavior by another child or a group of children, and often takes place in schools and other settings where children gather, and online. [1]

The Causes of Violence Against Children

With the variety of parties causing violence, the causes also vary to include reasons within the family, such as lack of income, lack of emotional bonding between children and parents, poor parenting practices, and early or forced marriage.

As for societies in which violence is widespread, it has been observed that there are common characteristics among them, such as poverty, high population density, easy access to alcohol and firearms, high concentrations of gangs, and illicit drug dealing. [1]

The Impact of Violence Against Children

Childhood is the most important stage for the physical and psychological formation of human beings, and a Child’s upbringing in these unnatural conditions and an unsafe environment will have severe effects, including:

Impair brain and nervous system development, and their negative effects on the child’s cognitive development and results in educational and vocational under-achievement. As well as the negative effects on the endocrine, circulatory, musculoskeletal, reproductive, respiratory and immune systems
Negative coping and health-risk behaviors, as children exposed to violence, are substantially more likely to smoke, misuse alcohol and drugs, and engage in high-risk sexual behavior.
Negative effects on mental health, as these children are exposed to childhood trauma and have high rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, and many other mental problems.
Unintended pregnancies, induced abortions, gynecological problems, and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.
Severe injuries often occur in males because of physical fighting and assault.
Death as a result of manslaughter.
Children who have been subjected to violence may tend to commit personal violence towards themselves or others later, which creates a vicious cycle of violence that will inevitably affect the next generations. [1]

Statistics on Violence Against Children

– According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that about one billion children worldwide have experienced emotional, physical, and/or sexual violence.

– The study conducted by the global partnership to end violence against children 2016, has shown that every five minutes a child dies from violence.

– UNICEF also indicated that one in 10 girls under the age of 20 has been subjected to forced sexual acts. The study also showed that nearly one in 10 children worldwide lives in a country affected by conflict. [3]