VIOLENCE AGAINST ADOLESCENTS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
LAC HAS THE HIGHEST HOMICIDE RATES IN THE WORLD LAC is the only region where the adolescent homicide rate has increased since 2007. The adolescent homicide rate is three times higher than that of the next-highest region (West and Central Africa)i Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) faces high levels of violence against children and adolescents. In recent years, there has been a peak of violence affecting children differently depending on their gender. Many adolescents are victims of homicide, often linked to gang activities and forced unaccompanied migration. Girls are likely to become victims of violence and sexual exploitation, often in the context of human trafficking. The physical and psychological consequences of such violence are serious: It affects the welfare of children and adolescents, prevents the fulfillment of their rights and hinders economic development.
25
20
15
10
5
0 2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Latin America and the Caribbean West and Central Africa Eastern and Southern Africa North America Middle East and North Africa South Asia East Asia and the Pacific Eastern Europe and Central Asia Western Europe
Mortality rate (deaths per 100,000) due to homicide among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, by region, 2000 to 2015. ii
Save the Children in LAC works to ensure that all children and adolescents are protected from all forms of violence through the promotion and adoption of positive discipline techniques, prevention of sexual violence, the empowerment of boys and girls to make their voices heard, and strengthening of protection systems.
West and Central Africa 5.4 Eastern and Southern Africa 4.1 North America 3.6 Middle East and North Africa 3.1 South Asia 2 East Asia and the Pacific 1.5 Eastern Europe Western Europe and Central Asia 0.4 1.4
Latin America and the Caribbean 22.1
Under 10% of the world’s adolescents live in LAC, but almost 50% of all adolescent homicides (10-19 years) occur in this regioniii
The five countries with the highest homicide rates among adolescents are Venezuela, Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador and Brazil
Countries with no comparable homicide estimates from WHO
Less than 6
11 to 20
5 to 10
More than 20 Mortality rate (deaths per 100,000) due to homicide among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, in 2015.iv
Homicide accounts for more deaths of adolescent boys in Honduras, Venezuela and Colombia than all other causes togethervi
1hr
Every hour 3 adolescents are killed due to homicide in LACv
Honduras 66%
34% Homicide
Venezuela 52%
48%
Colombia 51%
49%
Others
Adolescent homicide rate (10-19) for boys (38.5 per 100,000) is almost eight times higher than for girls (5.1 per 100,000)vii . It means that for eight adolescent boys that are victims of homicide, one girl dies from homicide. Average number of children under age 5 whose lives were saved each year between 2000 and 2012 and number of homicide victims among children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 years in 2012, in the seven countries with the highest homicide rates worldwide among boys aged 10 to 19 years. LIVES SAVED
Gains in child survival are being nullfied by increases in mortality due to violence
LIVES LOST Brazil Guatemala Colombia Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) El Salvador Panama
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
Trinidad and Tobago
Note: Figures in this chart have been rounded. Source: For data on lives saved: UNICEF analysis based on the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) 2013. For data on lives lost: World Health Organization, Global Health Estimates (GHE) Summary Tables: Deaths by cause, age, sex and region, 2012, WHO, Geneva, 2014.viii
JUAN
“My cousin knew what was going on and she did not answer, she only cried. My cousin told me, “They killed him.” I felt that my heart was crushed very badly, in the cruelest of ways. I remembered all the time I spent with him. I couldn’t believe that it had only been a few hours since I had last seen him alive. That day I was alone, far away, in a place that only I know. I only felt resentment, and that perhaps it would never leave me. I came to think of revenge, but now that I'm bigger I think time will heal that wound, although I always carry it in my heart." Juan*, 13, lost his cousin, with whom he was very close, just over a year ago. Juan’s cousin was a participant and a victim of El Salvador’s gang culture. The family believes he was killed after starting a relationship with a girl from another gang’s territory; he disappeared after following her into that area. Juan* recalls their close relationship, but also the immediate, and continuing, trauma he suffered upon hearing about his death. (*)
The name has been changed to protect his identity.
SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN LAC Violence has a gender dimension. Adolescent boys are more exposed to physical violence such as homicides and are more likely to face exploitation from organized crime. Girls, on the other hand, are exposed to more gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence.
1.1million adolescent girls (15-19 years) have experienced forced sexual violence or any other forced sexual acts.ix
Girls and women are also more likely than boys and men to be victims of sexual exploitation or trafficking. Globally 96% of sexual trafficking victims are women and girls, while only 4% are boys and men.
Approximately 2 million children and adolescents (11-17 years) are being sexually exploited in LAC. xi
In Central America and the Caribbean, over half (51%) of human trafficking victims are girls, compared compared to 20% at the global level.
Figure 2: Shares of adults and children among detected trafficking victims, by region, 2014 (or most recent)xii Sub- Saharan Africa/ 11 countries
36%
64%
Central America and the Caribbean/ 10 countries
38%
62%
South America/ 9 countries
61%
39%
East Asia and the Pacific/ 8 countries
68%
32%
Adult
Central and South-Eastern Europe/ 14 countries
74%
26%
Children
Western and Southern Europe/ 16 countries
75%
25%
North Africa and the Middle East/ 8 countries
75%
25%
North America/ 3 countries
81%
19%
Eastern Europe and Central Asia/ 8 countries
92%
8%
Source: UNODC elaboration at nation data.
AIDE
“I have experienced a pregnancy when I was a teenager. I know what it means, the struggles one faces, the fear one carries, and the emotional rollercoaster one has to go through”. Aide grew up in Potosi, a mining town in Bolivia. At the age of eight, her mother moved with her and her younger brother to Argentina to work in a textile factory. Her mother worked long hours and hardly saw her children. Aide looked after her younger brother during this time. At the tender age of 11, she started to suffer from sexual assaults from a close family member. When she was 13, her family returned to Potosi, Aide was six months pregnant at that stage without being aware of the pregnancy. Back in Bolivia, Aide suffered ‘cold treatment’ from health personnel and faced discrimination for being a teenage mother from society while seeking for information about contraceptives. Trying to deal with this new situation, Aide focused on her studies and on her son. She continuously highlights the support she received from her grandmother. Last year, Aide graduated from high school and enrolled at the university to become a nurse. It has not been an easy adolescence to go through, but Aide had to confront, but she carries an extraordinary strength in her combined with a strong desire to change things. Now a days, Aide is a young advocate of the Save the Children campaign Every Last Girl in Bolivia.
PHYSICAL AND HUMILIATING PUNISHMENT Through huge strides in legislation since 2014, 5 countries have passed legislation banning corporal punishment in the home. However, social and cultural norms have not adapted yet.
10 countries in LAC have prohibited physical punishments in all its forms.
20 countries in LAC have forbidden corporal punishment in schools.
8 countries have committed to carry out legal reforms.
1 out of 2 children under 15 years old is subject to corporal punishment at home.xiii
i
24 states have prohibited corporal punishment in institutions.
World Health Organization (2016). Global Health Estimates 2015: Deaths by cause, age and sex, by country and by region, 2000-2015.
ii
UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents. https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EVAC-Booklet-FINAL-10_31_17-high-res.pdf
ii
Own elaboration, data from UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents. https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EVAC-Booklet-FINAL-10_31_17-high-res.pdf
iii
Own elaboration, data from UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents.
iV
UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents. https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EVAC-Booklet-FINAL-10_31_17-high-res.pdf
V
Own elaboration, data from UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents.https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EVAC-Booklet-FINAL-10_31_17-high-res.pdf
Vi
Own elaboration, data from UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents.https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EVAC-Booklet-FINAL-10_31_17-high-res.pdf
Vii
UNICEF (2017). A Familiar face:Violence in the lives of children and adolescents.https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EVAC-Booklet-FINAL-10_31_17-high-res.pdf
Viii
UNICEF (2014). Hidden in plain sight. http://files.unicef.org/publications/files/Hidden_in_plain_sight_statistical_analysis_EN_3_Sept_2014.pdf
ix
UNICEF (2016). Children in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://www.unicef.org/lac/20160907_LACRO_Folleto-LAC-ENG_Low.pdf
x
Save the Children (2017) The impact of violence on children’s lives: a snapshot of Latin America and the Caribbean
xi
ECPAT (2014). THE COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN LATIN AMERICA. http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Regional%20CSEC%20Overview_Latin%20America%20(English).pdf
xii
Source: UNODC elaboration at national data.
xiii
UNICEF (2016). Children in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://www.unicef.org/lac/20160907_LACRO_Folleto-LAC-ENG_Low.pdf
xiiii
Save the Children (2017). End of Childhood Report. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/12167/pdf/endofchildhood_report_2017_english.pdf
Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean City of Knowledge, Gustavo Lara Street, Building 141, Panama City, Panama www.savethechildren.net Photos: Save The Children @SaveTheChildrenLAC
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