UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST AND BY INFANTS, CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Note: The VPPPS has collected hundreds of books, pamphlets, documents and articles on this complex challenge, within the larger context of global violence. The items below are merely representative of some helpful resources. The document below is a draft to be supplemented and completed with references. Expanded references to age, poverty/class, gender, race/ethnicity, and other forms of inequality are essential to understand this challenge.
The understanding of violence starts with Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: "States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child."
Any denial of any right guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights or the Declaration on the Rights of the Children is a form of violence. The United States is one of two nations worldwide that has not signed the Declaration on the Rights of the Child. The VPPPS understands violence as the threat or act of physical or psychological harm (injury/morbidity/mortality) against infants, children and youth/adolescents.
RESOURCES:
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Recommendations for Juvenile Justice Reform
Kofi Anan, Secretary General of the UN., We The Children
Building Blocks for Youth
Essential U.S. list serve at www.buildingblocksforyouth.org
Children’s Defense Fund
Assorted Documents
Movement to Leave No Child Behind (Regular fax service)
www.cdfcampaign@childrensdefense .org
Child Rights Information Network
Essential international list serve on children at www.crin.org
Riane Eisler, Tomorrow’s Chhildren
Lise Eliot, What’s Going On In There?
Leonard Eron, et. al., Reason to Hope, A Psychosocial Perspective on Violence and Youth
Sharon Foster, et. al., Preventing behavior problems: what works, International Academy of Education
James Garbarino, et. al.,. Children in Danger
Internet Links
Human Rights Library, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/children.html
Children, http://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/c-far/links.htm
INNOCENTI (UNICEF Center in Florence, Italy)
Urban Children in Distress
Child Deaths by Injury in Rich Nations
Lynn Karoly, et.al., Investing in Our Children
John Kydd, "Violence to Children, Definition and Prevention of., in Lester Kurtz, ed., Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict
Joanna Santa Barbara, "Childrearing, Violence and Non Violence, in in Lester Kurtz, ed., Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict
Ralf Loeber and David Farrington, Serious & Violent Juvenile Offenders
Graca Machel, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children
National Governors Association, Changing Systems for Children and Families
NGO’s, Study on Violence Against Children (Connected to the Special Session)
International Labor Organization, United Nations
Assorted Documents on Child Labor, etc.
De V. Peters, et. al., "Developmental Pathway to Conduct Problems," Aggression and Violence Throughout the Life Span
Right to Education Project
www.right-to-education@rwi.lu.se
Sebastio Salgado, Children
Katarina Tomasevski, Special Rapporteur on the right to education Mission to the United State of America. See related reports on the right to education.
UNICEF, Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(in particular, see Chapter 19)
Annual State of the World’s Children
Facts for Life
Global Campaign for Children
United Nations
Universal Declaration on Human Rights
Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1959
International Convention on the Rights of the Child
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ILO Convention 38 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment
United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of
Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules)
United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency
(Riyadh Guidelines)
United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their
Liberty
Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in
Respect of Intercountry Adoption
Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilites
Documents from the World Summit for Children, 1993
Special Session on Children, 2002
Children in Trouble, Expert Group Meeting
United States Surgeon General, Youth Violence
See various reports on mental health, suicide, and related reports from
the US Centers for Disease Control
Violence Prevention Peace Promotion Strategy (www.vppps.org)
See School Success Strategy, Make A Minute for Peace, Building
Parent Bridges, and other programs. Barry Weisberg, Reducing and Preventing Global Violence Against & By Children,
Power Point Slide Show and Op Ed Article
Juvenile Delinquency or Juvenile Rights?, Power Point Slide Show and
Op Ed Article
Facts: Violence Against Children, Unpublished
Assorted Fact Sheets from Various Sources)
"Zero Tolerance" is Intolerance, Op Ed Article
World Bank, Early Childhood Counts, and CD
Inventing in Our Children’s Future, Conference
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PARENT TEACHER GUIDES |
The VPPPS is developing twenty five parent-teacher guides on intrapersonal, interpersonal and institutional violence against and by infants-children-youth violence. Each of the one page (two sided) guides will contain an introduction to the issue, recommended actions for parents and teachers, and resources/references. They are planned for English and Spanish editions and will be available on the VPPPS web page.
This list is adapted from an encyclopedia of global violence that contains approximately one hundred entries. While focusing on US concerns, additional topics that may be important in developing countries could include child labor, genital mutilation, children in war, sex tourism, child prostitution, slavery, infanticide, etc.
Your additions or recommendations are welcome:
absent fathers and/or mothers
alcohol
alienation
assault
bullying
aggression
abuse/neglect
consumerism
diet/nutrition/hygiene
elderly abuse
fear
gangs
guns
HIV/AIDS
hopelessness
internet
juvenile crime/delinquency
kidnaping/stranger danger
mental health
music
murder
parenting without violence
pre-natal
police
pollution, toxic poisoning
pornography
rape/sexual assault and sexual abuse
spanking/corporal punishment
sports
spousal and partner abuse
stress/trauma
substance abuse/drugs
suicide
television
tobacco
video games
GLOBAL SAMPLING FROM VARIOUS YEARS: B = BILLION; M = MILLIONS
VIOLENCE AGAINST FAMILIES
1.3B Live on Less Than $1 Per Day
3B Live on Less than $2 Per Day
800M Malnourished
1.3B Live Without Clean Water
2B Live Without Sanitation
2B Lack Electricity
1.4B Exposed to Dangerous Levels of Outdoor Pollution
VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
5-10% Experience Regular Physical Violence
500,000-1M Premature Deaths Among Female Children Annually
130M Not Attend Primary Education in Developing Countries
1/4th Not Learn to Read
59% Boys/Girls in Developing Countries Not Enrolled Secondary School
1M New Child Prostitutes Annually
? Child Prostitutes
250M Ages 4-14 Forced to Work ½ Time
150-300M Girls Do Unpaid Domestic Work
1,200 Daily Deaths Under age of 5 from HIV
1,600 Daily Infections with AIDS
40,000 Daily Deaths from Malnutrition, Disease, Lack of Sanitation
8M Parentless from AIDS
12M Annual Deaths from Preventable Disease
183M Moderate or Severe Underweight
800M Hungry Every Day
1B Deficient in Micro Nutrients
4 out 10 Stunted growth in Developing Countries
1/3 Children without Birth Certificates
40M Born Annually without Birth Certificates
62 Countries that Accept Children in Military Under 18 Years
300,000 Killed by Land Mines since 1975
300,000 Child Soldiers Today
2M Killed by War in Last Decade
6M Injured from War in Last Decade
12M Homeless Children