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This is a critical time for children. The world is rebuilding from the COVID-19 pandemic amidst the rising challenges of conflict and climate change. The need to advocate, act and invest in ending violence against children is greater than ever.
The End Violence Partnership is convening actors from across countries and sectors to galvanise progress, solutions, commitments and action for a world where every child grows up in a safe, secure and nurturing environment:
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On 14 June, the Together to #ENDviolence Leaders’ Event brought together one of the most diverse and influential groups of advocates that have ever come together solely to end all forms of violence against children – including heads of state, United Nations leadership, children, survivors of childhood violence, royalty, CEOs and celebrities alongside 2,000 registered participants from 143+ countries.
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On 30-31 May, End Violence’s Safe Online Network Forum brought together over 40 grantees and partners from across the world alongside donors and industry representatives in a unique opportunity of networking and knowledge-sharing aligned around a common vision to end online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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At the margins of the Transforming Education Pre-Summit in June, End Violence launched the Safe to Learn Essay Collection – a collection of a range of perspectives that include global education leadership, government, teachers, youth and civil society – to provide a holistic insight into, and solutions to address, violence in and through schools.
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15 Pathfinding countries presented their Leaders’ Statements that reflect high-level commitments to end violence against children in their countries and beyond through planning and action.
With global moments such as the G7 Summit in Germany, the WeProtect Global Alliance Summit and the upcoming Transforming Education Summit important dialogue is advancing global efforts to #ENDviolence. With and through our 700+ partners, donors and grantees from around the world, the End Violence Partnership is continuing to build momentum and drive action.
Read about all the resources, knowledge, action and progress by the end violence community.
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The Safe To Learn Essay Collection is launched!
Every child has the right to safety and security that makes learning possible and fulfilling. But widespread violence in and around schools is dramatically undermining the transformational power of education, leaving millions of children living at risk and limiting their potential. To address this, we need to work together. The Safe to Learn initiative and End Violence Partnership have published the Safe To Learn Essay Collection: a holistic insight into the problem of violence in and through schools, its impact, and the solutions. The contributors represent a range of perspectives that include global education leadership, government perspectives (donor and domestic), teachers, youth and civil society. This essay collection was launched at the margins of the Transforming Education Pre-Summit.
The collection shares new ideas, solutions and voices to mobilise more political attention, action and funding to end violence in and through schools. Explore the collection and learn more about the work needed to scale-up efforts across countries and communities so that every child is safe to learn.
VIEW THE ESSAY COLLECTION IN ENGLISH HERE AND FRENCH HERE.
SPREAD THE WORD ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
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G7 Leaders commit to action to end childhood sexual violence
In a breakthrough moment for children and survivors of childhood violence across the world, G7 Leaders have collectively committed to action to end the global scourge of childhood sexual violence at the 48th G7 Summit. This marks a historic step in international efforts to address childhood sexual violence and place it high on the global agenda. The G7 Final Communiqué at the Summit stated the commitment to step up the “efforts to prevent and combat child sexual abuse and exploitation globally, both online and offline.” Read more.
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Day of the African Child 2022
16 June was the Day of the African Child – and this year’s theme was “eliminating harmful practices affecting children: progress on policy and practice”. It was a chance to take stock of the action being taken despite the challenges of the day. 12 African countries are now Pathfinding countries and have made formal commitments to ending all forms of violence against children. The region is also accelerating action to eliminate corporal punishment or violent forms of discipline – 10 countries in the continent have legally prohibited this in all settings and many more are taking steps. On the Day of the African Child 2022, the End Violence Partnership celebrated progress and called on all countries in the region to enact legislations that ban all forms of harmful practices affecting children. Read the statement from End Violence’s End Corporal Punishment initiative.
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The First Safe To Learn Regional Roundtable Series
On 23 June 2022, the first Safe to Learn Regional Roundtable brought together 45 participants including policymakers and country practitioners from Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan and Uganda. Participants had the opportunity to share their countries’ experiences with evidence, explore the different resources available, discuss challenges and celebrate successes – marking an incredible opportunity to see countries’ commitment to ending violence against children in and through schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Safe to Learn Regional Roundtable Series aims to support countries to end violence in and through schools by providing a platform for sharing knowledge, expertise, and tools and for informed peer-to-peer dialogue. Learn more about the round table series.
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The Together to #ENDviolence Leaders’ Event
On 14 June 2022, the Together to #ENDviolence Leaders’ Event brought together one of the most diverse and influential groups of advocates that have ever come together solely to end all forms of violence against children. The event provided a global platform for a comprehensive discussion on the current global context, placing a spotlight on what works and what needs to be done. Leaders and advocates, including heads of state, UN leadership, children, survivors of childhood violence, royalty, CEOs and celebrities, made a compelling case for greater political and financial commitments and called for immediate action.
Revisit the event and meet the End Violence Advocates.
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Safe Online Network Forum
On 30-31 May 2022, End Violence’s Safe Online initiative brought together 40 grantees and partners from across the world alongside donors and industry representatives from the Tech Coalition aligned around a common vision to end online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Over two-days of ‘networking and knowledge-sharing’ at the forum, critical discussions on good practices, cross-sector collaborations, the role of industry and latest technologies were held. It was an opportunity to hear perspectives from organisations doing ground-breaking work from around the world to disrupt tech-related harm to children at national, regional and global levels.
Learn more about the Network Forum.
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Leaders’ statements from Pathfinding countries
As part of the Together to #ENDViolence Solutions Summit series, the End Violence Partnership and partners encouraged all Pathfinding countries to organise National Policy Dialogues (NPD) on ending violence against children in their country. The NPDs involved stakeholders across government and beyond to take stock of any gaps in countries' violence prevention programming, identify how to fill those gaps, and secure commitments from government and partners to fill the gaps. Pathfinding country leaders also submitted Leaders’ Statements that reflected the high-level commitments made to end violence against children in their country and beyond. The NPDs and Leaders Statements are a testament to Pathfinding countries’ commitment to end violence against children.
Learn more | Read the Leaders' Statements
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The 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour
1 in 10 children around the world is involved in some form of child labour, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and climate change have stagnated progress towards ending the practice. From 15-20 May 2022, hundreds of delegates from around the world convened in Durban, South Africa, for ILO's 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour. Best practices and solutions such as education, investment and policy and programme action were discussed. The conference closed with the adoption of the ‘Durban Call to Action’ by all attendees. The call includes commitments to accelerate multi-stakeholder efforts to prevent and eliminate child labour, especially in its worst forms – including forced labour, modern slavery and trafficking. Read more.
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EU Council’s adoption of conclusions on the Rights of the Child
On 9 June 2022, the Council of Europe adopted conclusions on the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child revealed in March last year. This calls on EU countries to develop integrated policies and interventions to ensure that the rights of every child are upheld. Within the context of the present challenges of conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, a particular focus was placed on the protection of children’s rights in crisis or emergency situations. It also calls in particular for banning corporal punishment – violent forms of discipline – in all settings and the provision of protection from existing and emerging risks in the digital environment by focusing on digital literacy and online privacy. Read more.
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The UN campaign bringing youth voices to halls of power
In May, the United Nations launched a new campaign to bring the voices of children and youth into the halls of power across the world, aiming to place their perspectives in the decisions that affect public life. Led by the United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, the ‘Be Seen Be Heard’ campaign seeks to reach millions of young people in over 75 countries across six continents, and is advocating for policy and legislative change, removing barriers to youth representation, and developing young people’s leadership capacity.
Read more.
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5Rights launches a new toolkit to build a safer digital world
On May 16 2022, 5Rights Foundation launched the Global Child Online Safety Toolkit, a roadmap for policymakers and practitioners to build a digital world that ‘supports children and enables them to flourish’, online and beyond. The toolkit is supported by End Violence's Safe Online initiative and has been designed with experts, practitioners and young people from around the world. The launch event of the toolkit featured youth advocates, representatives from the UN, African Union, and European Union and the Duke of Sussex as a special guest. The event showcased the resources and ideas brought together in the toolkit and beyond, with speakers urging action by decision and policymakers to ensure children’s rights in the digital world. Read more.
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In March 2022, Sally Burnheim, Deputy Director, End Violence Partnership, spoke to undergraduate students of the Global Health and Development program at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. This talk focused on the health consequences of violence in childhood. It also discussed the role of diverse stakeholders working together and how the key initiatives of the Partnership are addressing the various forms of violence against children – at home, in schools, online and in communities. Read more.
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Safe Online grantee, University of Kent’s Centre for Child Protection, in collaboration with ECPAT International, A21, Playerthree and the University of Stirling, has developed 'May and Bay', a new culturally informed educational game, to help educate children and young people across Thailand and Cambodia on ways to spot the signs of online grooming and recognise the tactics that abusers and traffickers employ. Read more.
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Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on INSPIRE: 7 Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children
Created by ten agencies with a long history of child protection work, including the End Violence Partnership, INSPIRE serves as a technical package and guidebook for implementing effective, comprehensive programming to combat violence. It is a set of seven evidence-based strategies for any and all countries and communities working to eliminate violence against children. The INSPIRE knowledge and its practices are now accessible through a new online course. Intended for practitioners, policymakers, funders or anyone looking to gain evidence-based knowledge on the issue, this course aims to strengthen actionable knowledge about ending the many forms of violence against children. Learn more.
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Between 2012-2019 the Institute for Security Studies, University of Cape Town and Seven Passes Initiative (SPI) assessed the impact of four Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) programmes in South Africa. Their policy brief presents outcomes and makes recommendations for governments and donors to invest in parenting programs that can ensure violence-free childhoods. Read more.
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UNICEF and ILO have teamed up to develop knowledge and actionable best practices around government-led social protection systems to address the rising challenge of child labour. Their new report assesses the role of social protection programme features across contexts and makes recommendations to strengthen systems to tackle child labour.
Read more.
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INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children – uptake between 2016 and 2021
Since its publication in 2016, INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children has acted as a key global resource for implementing, adapting and monitoring interventions to prevent and respond to violence against children. This new report seeks to document the adoption and implementation of INSPIRE over the past 5 years at local, national, and regional levels, and identify the challenges and opportunities that have arisen along the way. The rapid and widespread uptake of the INSPIRE package indicates a strong belief in its value and its continued potential to reduce violence against children.
Read more.
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Mozambique launches its Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report
In 2019, the Government of Mozambique launched the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS), led by CDC as part of the Together for Girls partnership. The VACS measure multiple forms of violence against children and adolescents: sexual, physical, and emotional, and they provide important data on risk factors, protective factors, and consequences of violence. On June 16, 2022, the Government of Mozambique launched its VACS report in celebration of the International Day of the African Child. Read more.
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Recovering learning and addressing the learning crisis by promoting well-being and addressing violence in Asia and the Pacific
During the Side-Event of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Education Minister’s Conference (APREMC-II), UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Plan International, UNFPA, UN Women, UNESCO Bangkok and Safe to Learn co-convened the “Recovering learning and addressing the learning crisis by promoting well-being and addressing violence in Asia and the Pacific” side event. The event brought together diverse experts to provide guidance and pragmatic recommendations on effective strategies for promoting mental health and tackling and preventing violence through learning recovery efforts and through the transformation of education systems, drawing on new research and evidence-based examples from the region. Learn more.
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The new UNICEF report ‘Legislating for the digital age’ provides guidance on improving legislative frameworks to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) in accordance with international and regional conventions, models laws and good practices. Read more.
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UNICEF has published its 2021 Annual Report which covers its key achievements for children and young people in 2021 and presents the work done to alleviate the impacts of multiple crises including COVID-19, armed conflict and climate change on children. Read more.
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The Outcome document for East Asia and the Pacific: Safer learning environments
The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the existing child’s rights and global learning crisis around the world, including in East Asia and the Pacific. School closures and compounding economic and social impacts increased children’s vulnerability to violence. As schools begin to re-open across the region, it’s vital that violence prevention and mental health interventions are integrated within the region’s learning recovery agenda. The Outcome document developed by Safe to Learn, UNICEF and UNESCO, provides guidelines from INSPIRE strategies and the Safe to Learn Call to Action on how leaders in East Asia and the Pacific can create safer learning environments with mental-health services to foster well-being and learning for every child in the region. Read more.
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UNICEF Innocenti Report Card: over-consumption in rich countries is destroying children’s environments globally
In May, the UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti released the Innocenti Report Card 17: Places and Spaces, which compares how 43 countries in the OECD and EU fare in providing healthy environments for children. The main findings outlined that even countries with good social, economic and environmental conditions are far from meeting the targets set in the 2030 Agenda when it comes to healthy living environments and children’s well-being. The report has also highlighted that over-consumption in some of the world’s richest countries is destroying children’s environments globally – there is a ripple effect that is affecting the already vulnerable children. Read more.
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Education is under attack in conflict zones
In conflict, children are at extreme risk of trauma, abduction, harm and physical, emotional and psychological violence. Their classrooms and communities turn into battlefields. And when their education is under attack, it means that their safety, development and futures are under attack. Establishing the scale of this problem, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) has released a new report that tracked attacks on education in situations of armed conflict from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021. On average, it found that six attacks on education were recorded every day over the past two years, and given ongoing crises such as in Ukraine, the situation could get more dire. Read more.
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Safe Online at the 2002 RightsCon
The 2022 RightsCon took place virtually from 6-10 June. RightsCon, a leading Summit on human rights in the digital age, brought together a global community of business leaders, activists, technologists and others to contribute to a shared agenda for the future. End Violence’s Safe Online initiative led an important session with experts, civil society practitioners and industry leads on keeping children safe in the digital world. The panel discussed the increasing urgency for tackling online threats to children and some topline challenges in raising awareness with different key stakeholders and providing tools to tackle this problem. Read more here and on this platform.
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Drivers of online child sexual exploitation and abuse
A new study by Safe Online grantee, Protect Children Finland, ‘Risk Factors for Child Sexual Abuse Material Users Contacting Children Online’, explores a sample of anonymous individuals searching for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the dark web. It found that nearly half (42%) of the respondents reported that they had sought direct contact with children through online platforms after viewing CSAM. Read more. Protect Children Finland also published their ‘#ReDirection Report: Darknet Online Communities of Child Sexual Abusers’ report. This report finds that not only are online 'communities' of child sexual abusers driving up the risk of child abuse, they are also reinforcing, endorsing and encouraging abusive behaviour among members. Read more.
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Annual Reports from Safe Online grantees and partners reveal important findings on online CSEA
The Internet Watch Foundation published their 2021 Annual Report. During the year, this organisation assessed 361,062 reports and 7 in 10 (252,194 reports) of those were of children being sexually abused online. For the first time, they explored the prevalence of female offenders in the imagery and discovered that this imagery most often involves children aged 7-10 years old, and that boys are most often seen being abused by a female offender. INHOPE, also published their 2021 Annual Report, which highlights that the year saw a huge increase in self-generated Child Sexual Abuse Material.
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Strengthening Monitoring, Reporting and Response to the Abduction of Children
The Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict is organising a high-level event: ‘Strengthening Monitoring, Reporting and Response to the Abduction of Children’ at the UN Headquarters in New York. The event will take place in the margins of the UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict and will be offered virtually through live streaming on UN WebTV.
18 July 2022
10:00 am EST
Learn more and register.
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The End Child Marriage Gathering
World Vision is creating an online space – the ‘Gathering’. Over July and August, powerful change-makers and supporters will connect and participate in online talks, events and workshops focused on ending child marriage. Children and young people will be the partners for the gathering and will share efforts to end child marriage, showcase best-practice tactics, as well as how they have used poetry, creative writing and arts to make change. The event will highlight specific examples of policy change and local solutions to end child marriage.
July-August 2022
Learn more and register.
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INHOPE Summit
2022
The INHOPE Summit is an annual event that brings together technology, law enforcement and industry partners to ensure that INHOPE’s network of 50 member hotlines grows, expands and continues to remove online CSAM as rapidly as possible. This year's INHOPE Summit theme is 'Talk About It'. The goal is to address two topics: the importance of tackling Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) as a societal issue rather than an individual issue and the role of industry in the fight against CSAM. The fifth INHOPE Summit will be a Hybrid event taking place on 20 - 21 September. Day 1 (20 September ) will be online and in-person, while Day 2 (21 September) will be exclusively in-person.
20 - 21 September 2022
Learn more and register.
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Together for Girls is hiring: Deputy Executive Director & more
Together for Girls (TfG) is a global partnership working to end violence against children and adolescents, particularly sexual violence against girls and other vulnerable populations, with special attention to the gendered dimensions of violence. The Deputy Executive Director is a new position that will facilitate internal cohesion throughout the organisation, be responsible for providing strategic and technical direction and lead the TfG team in the development and implementation of core aspects of the TfG strategy.
Closing date: 26 July 2022
Learn more and apply.
Explore more positions:
Brave Movement Executive Director
Senior Proposal Development Manager
Grants and Reporting Officer
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Do you have news to share?
Our newsletter exists to inform and link partners, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, experts, and individuals fighting to end violence against children. To do this, we need information from those who know it best: our partners.
Email [email protected] with content submissions, including case studies, recently released reports, data and evidence, and any other exciting updates you want to share with the End Violence community.
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