More than 370 million girls and women alive today, or one in every eight worldwide, experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, the UN children’s agency said on Wednesday.
The number rises to 650 million, or one in five, when taking into account “non-contact” forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse, UNICEF reported, in what it called the first global survey of the problem.
While girls and women were the worst affected, 240 to 310 million boys and men, or about one in 11, have experienced rape or sexual assault during childhood, the report added.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The scale of this human rights violation is overwhelming, and it’s been hard to fully grasp because of stigma, challenges in measurement and limited investment in data collection,” UNICEF said in releasing the report.
It comes ahead of an inaugural Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Colombia next month.
UNICEF said its findings highlight the urgent need for intensified global action, including by strengthening laws and helping children recognize and report sexual violence.
Sexual violence cuts across geographical, cultural and economic boundaries, but Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of victims, with 79 million girls and women, or 22 percent affected, it said.
East and Southeast Asia follow with 75 million, or 8 percent, it said.
In its data for women and girls, UNICEF estimated that 73 million, or 9 percent, were affected in Central and South Asia; 68 million, or 14 percent, in Europe and North America; 45 million, or 18 percent, in Latin America and the Caribbean; and 29 million, or 15 percent, in North Africa and West Asia.
Oceania, with 6 million, had the highest number affected by percentage, at 34 percent.
Risks were higher, rising to one in four, in “fragile settings,” including those with weak institutions, UN peacekeeping forces or large numbers of refugees, the report found.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell called sexual violence against children “a stain on our moral conscience.”
“It inflicts deep and lasting trauma, often by someone the child knows and trusts, in places where they should feel safe,” she said.
Most childhood sexual violence occurs during adolescence, especially between ages 14 and 17, and those who suffer it face higher risks of sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse and mental health issues, the agency said.
“The impact is further compounded when children delay disclosing their experiences ... or keep the abuse secret altogether,” UNICEF said.
Increased investment in data collection is needed to capture the full scale the problem, given persistent data gaps, particularly on boys’ experiences, it said.
UNICEF said it based its estimates of girls’ and women’s experiences on nationally representative surveys conducted from 2010 to 2022 in 120 countries and areas.
The agency added that estimates for boys and men were derived from a broader range of data sources and applied some indirect methods.
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