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Demonstrators from All India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA) hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against
the recent killings of two teenage girls, in New Delhi May 31, 2014.(Reuters /
Adnan Abidi)
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One
in ten girls under the age of 20, or about 120 million across the globe, have
been sexually abused, according to the latest conservative figures by UNICEF.
The
same report found that six in ten kids aged 2-14 are regularly subject to
physical punishment.
According
to UNICEF’s report based on 190 countries, between 30 and 80
percent of victims don’t disclose experiences of childhood sexual abuse until
adulthood, while many others (a number impossible to quantify) remain silent
for their entire lives.
For
instance, in India, in 2011, 10.6 percent of rape victims were under the age of
14.
One
might think that when a girl gets married, the trouble stops, but it’s not
true: almost one in three married young women have been victims of emotional,
physical and/or sexual violence inflicted by their partners – especially in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Another
alarming trend is that nearly 50 percent of the girls believe a husband is
allowed to hit or beat his wife from time to time.
The
report says the high figure is due to the fact that many victims are too afraid
to come forward to report abuse, or simply don’t know that being hurt is
unacceptable. Boys also tend to be quieter than girls so as not to break the
image of masculinity, and in the case of a rape by a male, not to be declared
homosexual.
The
most frequent type of sexual harassment is cyber-victimization, the study has
found. Also, a little over one in three school students have been victims of
school bullying.
"It
occurs in places where children should be safe, their homes, schools and
communities. Increasingly, it happens over the internet, and it's perpetrated
by family members and teachers, neighbors and strangers and other children,”
Anthony Lake, UNICEF executive director, said in an official statement.
In
other data, around six out of 10 children aged between two and 14 were victims
of regular physical punishment from their carers.
Frightening
statistics also revolved around youth homicide, with 95,000 children and
teenagers killed in 2012 alone, most of them in Latin America and The
Caribbean, the report stated.
"These
are uncomfortable facts – no government or parent will want to see them,"
Anthony Lake, UNICEF executive director, concluded in an official statement, as
quoted by The Huffington Post.
"But unless we
confront the reality each infuriating statistic represents … we will never
change the mindset that violence against children is normal and permissible. It
is neither," he added.
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