Protecting children from abuse and neglect

Violence against children is never justifiable. Nor is it inevitable. If its underlying causes are identified and addressed, violence against children is entirely preventable. Violence against children occurs in all the environments where children are: in their family homes, schools and streets; in places of work and entertainment, and in care and detention facilities. The consequences of violence can be devastating: it can result in early death, but even children who survive must cope with terrible physical and emotional scars. Violence places at risk not only their health, but also their ability to learn and grow into adults who can create sound families and communities.

We encourage the authorities to bear primary responsibility for preventing and responding to violence against children, to implement actions in all sectors – from health and education to labour and justice – and at all levels, local, regional and national.

Establish and maintain a child safe environment is the main consideration in all of our activities. We help central and local authorities and civil society to improve the understanding of the problem, to build the evidence base on this phenomenon, and devise multi-disciplinary and inter-sectoral strategies, services and polices to confront family violence, child abuse, neglect and exploitation. We focus especially on developing primary, secondary and tertiary prevention mechanisms and services and strengthen the inter-sectoral collaboration between professionals working in different sectors to early identify, assess, refer and treat cases of child abuse and neglect.