Child Protection

For decades, UNICEF has been responding to a multitude of child-protection issues.

In Sierra Leone, we helped more than 3,600 child soldiers leave army life. In Burkina Faso, our support helped secure passage of legislation that made female genital mutilation and cutting a punishable offense. In Romania, we provided counselling and material support to pregnant women in difficult circumstances to dissuade them from abandoning their newborns. In Mexico, we piloted educational materials in Federal District schools about violence and how to avoid it, targeting teachers, parents and children. In Asia, we facilitated a cross-border agreement between China and Viet Nam to end child trafficking.

Fact Sheets

Child Labour     Child Trafficking     Sexual Exploitation     Child Soldiers

Hundreds of millions of children across the globe are victims of exploitation, abuse and violence each year.

They are abducted from their homes and schools and recruited into the army. They are trafficked into prostitution rings. They are forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery.  An estimated 130 million women and girls alive today have suffered unspeakable violence in the form of genital mutilation/cutting. These abuses are a manifestation of the world's systematic failure to protect those who are most defenceless.

The consequences can be devastating.

Violence and abuse can kill; more often they result in poor physical and mental health, deny a child education, or lead to homelessness, vagrancy, or a sense of hopelessness. Moreover, if and when they have children of their own, abused children are more likely to subject them to some form of abuse.

Protection from these dangers is a universal right of every child, as laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNICEF places a high priority on protecting children from all forms of violence and abuse.  The tools that UNICEF and its partners use to strengthen the protective environment include advocacy aimed at government officials; community education programmes to transform attitudes and customs that are harmful to children; advocacy and training within the community on the signs, symptoms and treatment of abuse; and educational programmes for children to help them develop life-saving skills.