Media Center

On 26-27 April, the Ministry of Civil Affairs China and UNICEF co-hosted a regional workshop on child protection. With a particular focus on national surveys for collecting data on violence against children, the meeting brought together key government representatives and UNICEF staff from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines, UNICEF staff from Headquarters and the East Asia and Pacific Regional Office as well as global and national experts on data collection related to violence against children.

Violence against children (VAC) exists in every country, cutting across culture, class, education, income and ethnic origin. Violence is a leading cause of injuries, risk behavior and death, leading to high social and economic costs. Nonetheless, data are needed as a catalyst for action to prevent and respond to violence against children, and a robust and well-planned methodology for data collection and research is important to start engaging stakeholders.

“Social development depends on the physical and mental well-being of children. We need a harmonized multilateral and global approach for child protection and development,' said Wang Jianhua, Director General of Social Affairs, Ministry of Civil Affairs in a welcome message addressing a full and invigorated audience.

“The protection of children from all forms of violence needs to evolve from being a concern of a few into a priority for all and data and research are crucial to break the invisibility of the issue of violence against children.” said Tim Sutton, UNICEF Deputy Representative to China.

2016 marks the beginning of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calling for a world “which invests in its children and in which every child grows up free from violence and exploitation”. Specifically, Target (16.2) of the Sustainable Development agenda is aimed at ending all forms of violence against girls and boys in all contexts, leaving no child behind.

The workshop took place at a significant and momentous time in the development, testing and scaling of VAC surveys in the East Asia and Pacific region and the world.  Based upon a VAC approach developed by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) and first used in Swaziland in 2006, UNICEF has been supporting the implementation of more than seventeen national VAC surveys around the world to raise awareness and leverage political commitment to address this issue. In the East Asia and Pacific region, this approach has been tested, modified and applied in four countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines.

Following presentations on the global experience in implementing violence against children surveys, best practices in moving from data to action, and key observations from research into child maltreatment in China and the East Asia-Pacific Region, teams from the four countries that have completed the surveys shared their experience of implementing the survey and in developing follow-up actions. China is currently preparing for piloting the survey in two cities in order to test the methodology before conducting a national survey.

Children have a right to be protected from all forms of violence and preventing violence against children has great human and economic benefits for the entire society. There is an urgent need to explore and invest in a national VAC survey  to ensure that tackling violence against children becomes a priority. Only together can we begin to address such a deeply penetrating social issue. With VAC survey developments a burgeoning field, an event as such provided a timely opportunity to share knowledge and lessons learned from different countries among a variety of stakeholders. The future of VAC surveys and the subsequent actions in the East Asia and Pacific region will be instrumental to achieving the overall goal of ensuring that violence against children is made visible and is being addressed as a priority.