violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“To avoid violence we need to be listened to, we need economic,work and educational opportunities. We need the chance to improve our qualityof life and have the right to live in a violence free environment.”Adolescent boys, Latin America I4IntroductionChildren spend more time in the care of adultsin pre-schools, schools, vocational trainingcentres and other places of learning than theydo anywhere else outside of their homes. Likeparents, the adults who oversee, manage andstaff these places have a duty to provide safeand nurturing environments that supportand promote children’s education and development.They also have a duty to make suresuch development prepares children for life asresponsible adults, guided by values of nonviolence,gender equality, non-discrimination,tolerance and mutual respect. These are thevalues that Governments embrace when theyratify the Convention on the Rights of theChild (CRC) and other international humanrights conventions, along with obligations toprotect children from all forms of violence, inschools and elsewhere, including providing aclear framework of law prohibiting and deterringall forms of violence, and taking all othernecessary measures to prevent violence.Violence in schools can be prevented and mustnot be tolerated. The reality for many millionsof children is that schools (used hereafteras the generic term for all education settingsfor children) expose them to violence and, inso doing, children are denied of their rights,including to education. In all of the RegionalConsultations conducted for the Study, and inmany of the reports received, children attestedto the impact of violence on their ability to getto and from school, to learn effectively whilein school, and to remain in school long enoughto reap the benefits of education. 1,2,3The public image of violence in schools hasbeen coloured by the media’s focus on extremeevents, such as school shootings; the targetingof schools for attacks and mass kidnappings.However, such events are very rare. Morecommon are forms of violence that go unreportedand may be so tolerated and perhaps soactively condoned by the public and by officialpolicy and law that they are not deemedworthy of study, discussion or debate.Where the social and physical environment ofthe community is hostile, the school environmentis unlikely to be spared. The levels andpatterns of violence in schools often reflect thelevels and patterns of violence in countries,communities and families. These, in turn,reflect prevailing political and socio-economicconditions, social attitudes, cultural traditionsand values, and laws and law enforcement.Where it is legal, considered acceptable andperhaps even commendable for men to controlwomen, and the wealthy or privileged to controlthe poor and disadvantaged, and parentsto control children through violence and thethreat of violence, then it is likely to be legal,considered acceptable and perhaps even commendablefor both adults and children to usesimilar methods in schools. 4,5,6 By being victims,perpetrators and witnesses of violence,children learn that violence is an acceptableway for the strong and aggressive to get whatthey want from the comparatively weak, passiveor peaceful.111Violence against children in schools and educational settings