Children have a right to protection. There has been consent on this for a long time. However, for the healthy development of the child it is important not only to receive protection but also to feel valued and to have opportunities to participate: to learn to form opinions, to have the confidence to express opinions and above all, to be taken seriously.
This web-site takes the views expressed by children on violence as the starting point for adults to better understand how to listen and support children more effectively. Central to such a child-centred approach is the right of the child to develop physically as well as mentally, emotionally, cognitively
According to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, securing and promoting children’s fundamental rights to respect for their human dignity and physical and psychological integrity, through the prevention of all forms of violence, is essential for promoting the full set of child rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child[4].
The experience of violence is inherently disempowering for children, when their rights have been violated in their family environment, the place where they should feel safe and secure. Children, who experience abuse, have a right to be supported in their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration[5], to be supported to rebuild their capacity to trust in their relationship with their family members.
[1] Art. 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
[2] Art. 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
[3] Art. 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
[4] General Comment No. 13 (2011), The right of the child to freedom of all forms of violence, Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN
[5] Art. 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
