violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

4Two countries where national committeesdevelop and enforce anti-violence measuresThe Republic of Korea’s Act on the Prevention of School Violence requires that a newplan for preventing school violence be drawn up every five years. A National Committeehas responsibility for coordinating and monitoring implementation of the planand for overseeing the five-year reviews and updates. Every school is required to holdregular sessions to review their contributions to the implementation of the plan, and torecommend whatever actions may be called for within the school or beyond.In Cyprus, the Ministry of Education requires all schools to establish committees toaddress needs for “prevention and confrontation of violence in the family and schoolenvironment.” These committees are empowered to receive and investigate complaintsof violence before passing them on to the appropriate authorities. 174141issued special guidelines applying to sexualrelations between students and teachers inschools (see box). 171Under-reporting of all forms of violence is achronic problem in most countries. Reasonsinclude lack of confidence in the capacity ofauthorities to intervene in constructive ways,and fear of repercussions to victims and theirfamilies and even to perpetrators, since somuch violence occurs within circles of peoplewho know each other.Government responses to the questionnairesent out as part of the Study 173 show that a fewcountries have reformed laws and improvedlaw enforcement to address school violence inmore holistic ways, as part of broader effortsto promote and support rights-based childfriendlyeducation for all children (see box).Rights-based school policiesand programmesA large number and variety of policies and programmesto counter school-based violence havebeen introduced in all regions of the world.Only a few of these have been rigorously evaluated– and mostly in industrialised countries– but the results are encouraging, and showthat effective solutions exist, although they arenot widely implemented.UNESCO has found promising anti-schoolviolenceprogrammes in eight countries –Australia,France, Israel, Japan, Northern Ireland,Norway, South Africa and the USA. Theseprogrammes are well-regarded by administrators,teachers, students and parents and showearly indications of being effective in reducingviolence in schools. A small body of researchevaluating these programmes indicates thatthey not only reduce violence, but help studentsViolence against children in schools and educational settings