violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

7crowding and low standards of education andsocial amenities. Young and rapidly growingpopulations – particularly boys – in theseareas may express frustration, anger and pentuptension in fights and anti-social behaviour.Where firearms and other weapons arewidely available, fights are more likely to leadto severe injuries and death. Violence may bemore common in situations where boys areencouraged to exhibit aggressive masculinity,weapons skills, private codes of loyalty andrevenge, and general risk-taking. 2,3,4In many places children – particularly girls –face increased exposure to violence in the communityas they grow older and the domestictasks they are required to perform take themfurther and further away from the household.Many children in rural Africa and Asia reportfeeling threatened or being attacked when theyfetch water, fuel or fodder, tasks which mayrequire walking a considerable distance in isolatedareas. 5,6 Older children may encounterviolence in intimate and dating relationships,peer groups, sports and other recreationalactivities, as well as in the context of religiousgroups, traditional associations, and politicalor social movements.Nature and extentof the problemThe following sections examine the types ofviolence faced by children in the community,including both physical and sexual violence,and violence that occurs within intimate anddating relationships between young people.It also considers groups of children who faceespecially high risks of violence, includingchildren living on the street, young membersof ethnic minorities, children in camps forrefugees or displaced persons, and those victimisedby trafficking or abduction.It should be noted that, in the quantitative datadiscussed below, data are rarely aggregated inways that clearly distinguish children (definedas being under 18 years of age) from adults.More often, data are collected and aggregatedin four-year age groups: 0–4; 5–9; 10–14, and15–19. Sometimes inferences have to be madefrom data covering young people up to the ageof 25.Physical violenceIn countries with reliable data, a sudden, steepincrease in the rates of violent victimisationand perpetration is noted at around the age of15, indicating that a number of factors cometogether at adolescence to make physical violence– including much that is between teenagers– more common. 7 Such violence followsclear patterns in respect of where it occurs,when it occurs, whom it is most likely to affect,and factors (such as alcohol use and economicinequality) associated with its occurrence. Beinghighly predictable, in principle, it is preventablethrough population-level interventions.HomicideThe WHO global burden of disease estimatesfor the year 2002 indicate that 52,904 childrenaged 0–17 years died as a result of homicide.8 Of these child homicide victims, 21,995or nearly 42% were aged 15–17 years, nearly287Violence against children in the community