Child Protection
We work to make sure every child can realize their right to grow up in a safe environment, protected from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect.
Challenge
Every child has the right to be protected from violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect and harmful practices.
Yet millions of children in South Asia experience violence and harmful practices – including at home, school and in the community – which can have serious consequences that can last a lifetime.
These child protection violations continue to compromise children’s health and safety and hold them back from reaching their full potential.
Violence against children
Violence against children is never justifiable.
Yet, violence against children continues to be a devastating reality and can take many forms. It can be physical, sexual and emotional, and can involve neglect.
Violence can happen in different settings, including at home, school, at care facilities, detention centres, in the community and online. For many children, violence occurs at the hands of people they trust, such as family members, intimate partners, teachers, neighbours, and even other children.
In South Asia, too many children experience violent discipline at home and at school. In Bangladesh, nearly 9 in 10 children aged 1-14 years old reported experiencing violent discipline at home, and similarly 8 in 10 children in Nepal and 7 in 10 children in Afghanistan.
A large number of students in the region also face bullying (including cyber-bullying) - a harmful type of peer violence. Over 50 per cent of students aged 13-15 in Nepal reported being bullied while 30 per cent of students in Bhutan and Maldives and around 40 per cent in Pakistan and Afghanistan reported the same.
Child marriage
Child marriage robs girls and boys of their childhood and crushes their hopes and their futures.
Child marriage is any marriage between a child under the age of 18 with an adult or another child. It includes both formal marriages and informal arrangements where a child lives with a partner as if they are married.
In South Asia, 1 in 4 young women were married before their 18th birthday.
Marrying as a child has a lifelong impact on their health, education, psychosocial and mental well-being, and ultimately their future. Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to stay in school.
While child marriage is declining across the region, the practice continues to be widespread and is often concentrated in particular areas or among certain cultural groups. The combined impact of economic shocks, conflict, humanitarian crises and climate change also challenges this progress.
Birth registration
A child who is not registered at birth is invisible.
Right now, 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 in South Asia do not officially exist on paper - their births are not registered.
Without this legal proof of identity, children are left uncounted and unprotected. Without it, a child may not be able to enroll in school, receive healthcare and benefit from child grants.
Not only is birth registration a fundamental human right, it also helps to make sure that other children’s rights are upheld – like the right to protection from harmful practices, the right to legal identity and to essential social services.
It can legally protect children in cases of child labour, child marriage and within the criminal justice system, so that they are fairly tried as children and not adults.
>> Learn more: What is birth registration and why does it matter?
Child labour and exploitation
Children belong in schools, not workplaces.
Not only does it cut children off from learning, but child labour puts children at great risk of serious physical and mental harm. And keeps them in a vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty.
In South Asia, poverty drives many children into paid and unpaid work. Even though they are too young to work as defined by law, these children often work long hours in hazardous conditions which can threaten their health, development and well-being.
Children engaged in paid work usually work in agriculture, fisheries, domestic work and brick, leather and mining industries. Unpaid work is usually for their family.
In Nepal, 15 per cent of children aged 5-17 years are engaged in child labour, while 19.4 per cent of children in Afghanistan are engaged in child labour. With the exception of a few countries, recent data on the number of children engaged in labour is largely not available – making it even more challenging to reach every child that finds themselves in these situations.
Justice for children
Children can find themselves dealing with the justice system in a number of ways, whether as survivors, witnesses or alleged of wrongdoing.
Justice systems are meant to protect and support children and their rights. Yet many are often structured to deal with adults and do not provide the support needed for children to safely participate in the justice process.
A child, particularly as a victim, needs additional protection and safeguards so they can fully understand the legal process.
If a child has allegedly committed or is convicted of a crime, the balance between punishment and rehabilitation should always lean towards rehabilitation.
In South Asia this is heartbreakingly not the case, where there is a heavy focus on punishment of children.
Many countries allow physical and corporal punishment instead of custody or detention, with even fewer options for alternative justice programmes for children.
Opportunity
Every child deserves to grow up in a safe environment, protected from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect. This is what we strive for.
By making sure that every child is registered at birth, supported by nurturing parents, caregivers and family members, has a safe learning environment and is protected by online safety and fair justice, we can build a safer world for children in South Asia and globally.
What UNICEF is doing
The main focus of our work is universal prevention of harm to children.
Alongside our partners, we tailor specific support for children living in situations with the greatest risks of harm, including children in humanitarian crisis, children with disabilities, children without parental care, and children experiencing other forms of discrimination and exclusion.
We work with our partners to make sure children who have experienced or are experiencing harm get the care, support services and justice they need and deserve.
We work at scale to address social, behavioural, economic and cultural factors that play a role in child protection violations by:
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Working with partners to increase investment in child-sensitive social protection systems and improve the use of government spending.
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Working with children, adolescents, parents, local and religious leaders as well as the private sector to promote social change and address harmful social and gender values and beliefs.
We support inclusive and effective national child protection systems that prevent and respond to child protection violations by:
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Supporting countries to develop and strengthen legal, policy and regulatory frameworks and develop effective governance and coordination structures.
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Supporting modeling, costing, financing and expansion of child protection services with a focus on prevention.
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Improving child protection case management and referral systems while making sure that minimum standards and oversight mechanisms are in place.
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Promoting and supporting child and family participation and community engagement.
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Collecting data on child protection violations, generating evidence to support better care and services for children and supporting monitoring of child protection systems.
We prevent and respond to all forms of child protection violations by:
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Working directly with governments and partners to provide protection to children, caregivers and women affected by armed conflict, natural and climate disasters, forced displacement, and public health emergencies.
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Leading the coordination of child protection efforts in all emergency settings to mobilize and deliver rapid responses that prioritize community-led action for every child’s protection.
Resources
These resources represent a selection of materials produced by UNICEF and its partners in the region. The list is regularly updated to include the latest information.
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Last update: August 2023