violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

6HAITI, 1995, A girl works at the crowded Solomon FoodMarket in Port-au-Prince.learn violent behaviours themselves or becomebehaviourally disturbed, exhibiting sexual orpersonal aggression. 121Work on the street or in transport, shops, barsor hotels based in shanty-town areas known fortheir violence presents special risks to the childreninvolved. Illicit activities such as trade inillegal goods are by their nature conducted inhigh-risk areas where criminal enterprises arepart of the environment. 122Responses to violenceagainst children inplaces of workViolence as a specific issue has not been givenmuch attention by programmes concerningchild labour. A global challenge that emergesfrom the Study, according to the Study’sRegional Consultation in the Caribbean, isUNICEF/HQ95-0674. Nicole Toutounjito make workplace violence against children amore visible issue, and give it a higher prioritywith policy-makers. 123 The Regional Consultationin South Asia similarly observed that theviolence implicit in many working children’ssituations has not been adequately noticed orchallenged.There is nonetheless experience in dealingwith abuse and violence within many existingprogrammes related to child labour. Mostsuch programmes are multi-pronged, addressingeconomic and cultural causes, the promotionof education and alternative occupations,social mobilisation around children’s needsand rights, and advocacy to change attitudestowards the acceptability of child labour.Within such programmes, the violence certainchildren experience in the workplaceshould be better researched and given moreattention.Appropriate responses will depend to a considerableextent on key differences concerning thenature of the work or workplace, and thereforeof the violence within it. These can be groupedas follows:• Worst forms: In the case whereviolence is an integral component ofthe hazardous and exploitative natureof the labour, covered under ILOConvention No. 182, children shouldnot be in the workplace. Therefore,the principal response will be to enablethem to leave it and take up a newcourse of life, with parental, social andState support. This requires a multiprongedapproach, including measures253Violence against children in places of work