THE UNO AND CHILD VIOLENCE- LEADING THE CHARGE AGAINST IT

Violence against children is an issue that’s coming to the international limelight right now probably because the issue of violence against women, and wife battery in particular, has been generally successfully legislated upon worldwide.

The United Nations Organization (The UNO) is once more at the head of the charge against this latest threat confronting the cohesiveness of the core family unit. Its leadership has prepared a groundbreaking report on an in-depth study of the global problem of child violence in conjunction with UNICEF, its major arm responsible for the funding of the educational-program aspects of childhood worldwide.

As is usual with such studies and reports, the major huddles lie in the implementation and follow-up of the recommendations made therein, so to say. Just this month, the main advocates of the urgent need to implement the UNO report stated as follows:

“A comprehensive response is needed to keep violence out of children’s lives, countries for example must make sure that a well-functioning legal system is in place to protect children against violence with an enforcement mechanism to punish those who harm children….While legal obligations lie with the state, all sectors of society share the responsibility of condemning and preventing violence against children.”


The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the World Health Organization (WHO), both contributors to the study and the findings, reasoned like this in a press release:

“"Violence against children is a violation of their human rights, a disturbing reality of our societies…..It can never be justified whether for disciplinary reasons or cultural tradition. No such thing as a ‘reasonable’ level of violence is acceptable. Legalized violence against children in one context risks tolerance of violence against children generally.”


Added emphasis was placed on the fact that health workers, who are usually in the front line of the response to violence against children, should be well funded by the various sovereign states and governments in order to achieve and get meaningful / measurable results.

The rest of the news item can be seen at the following links:


http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/EB061D06368DB7CEC125720500483BB3?opendocument ,


http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/violence.study/en/index.html


http://www.scoop.co.nz/link-out/p7767/a743/secure-nz.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/a/ci_806589/et_2/cg_801625/pi_1005471/ai_838548


http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/gashc3852.doc.htm%3Edebate%3C/a%3Eby%20the%20General%20Assembly.%20%3Cp%3E“It%20would%20be%20a%20waste%20of%20allthis%20momentum,%20this%20enthusiasm,%20this%20convergence%20amongMember%20States…%20if%20the%20General%20Assembly%20will%20not%20be%20able%20toassure%20a%20dynamic%20day-after%20for%20the%20study,”%20he%20added,referring%20to%20the%20recommendations%20that%20covered%20everythingfrom%20legislation%20and%20policymaking%20to%20service%20delivery%20andinstitutional%20measures%20while%20also%20emphasizing%20the%20primacy%20ofthe%20family%20in%20children's%20lives.%3Cp%3EThe%20study%20concludes%20thatviolence%20against%20children%20“exists%20in%20every%20country%20of%20theworld,%20cutting%20across%20culture,%20class,%20education,%20income%20andethnic%20origin,”%20and%20the%20head%20of%20the%20UN%20Children’s%20Fund(%3Cahref=


http://www.savethechildren.org.nz/