ENDING poverty - Save the Children

ENDING POVERTY IN OUR GENERATION
But progress has been too limited and too slow.
This is partly because children’s right to protection
sometimes comes into conflict with deeply rooted
social norms and behaviours. For example, children
with disabilities or HIV often face stigma and are
more vulnerable to abuse. Gender discrimination
leads to early marriage for millions of girls, placing
many at greater risk of violence and abuse. Violent
‘discipline’ against children in homes and schools is a
norm in many countries around the world.
To protect the most marginalised and excluded
children, attention to equity is crucial. There has
recently been a shift in the developing world from
addressing the problems of particular groups (such
as street children, or those affected by sexual abuse)
to a more comprehensive, holistic and cross-sectoral
approach, able to address the different protection
needs of all children and improve prevention. This
involves building and strengthening communitybased
and national child protection systems. It also
includes shifting investments from institutional care
to safe, family-based care, based on the knowledge
that children thrive in a secure family environment
(whether it is with their birth family or another).
Legal reforms are needed in order to prohibit forms
of violence. Children’s participation in governance
should be encouraged. And reliable national data
collection systems on child protection constitute
strong components of a systems-based approach and
are required in all countries.
TARGETS
1. End child deaths from armed conflict and halve
the number of non-conflict violent deaths of
children (eg, intentional homicide)
2. Halve the number of children who are subject
to sexual violence and abuse of any form
3. Halve the number of children subjected to
violent discipline at home
4. Halve the number of children unnecessarily
living outside family care 38 (including children
affected by emergencies)
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