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58Urban crime and violencePercentage of victims121086420Figure 3.11AfricaAsiaLatinAmericaCentral andEastern EuropeNorth AmericaWestern EuropeTrends in victimization,selected crimes(1996–2000)Source: del Frate, 2003, p135Figure 3.12Survey respondentswho have sufferedburglary during theprevious yearSource: UNODC, 2005b, p63Percentage of victims86420Sub-SaharanAfricaAsia1996 2000Burglary1996 2000Robbery1996 2000Assault with forceof a woman’s male partner to become abusive include use ofdrugs/alcohol; unemployment status; economic pressures;and witnessing parental violence during childhood. 53 Insome settings, local cultures, community attitudes and socialnorms significantly influence the likelihood of violencetaking place between intimate partners. For instance, inZambia, the 2002 Demographic and Health Survey showsthat 79 per cent of married women believe that domesticviolence is justified when a woman goes out without thepermission of her husband. 54 Similarly, in India, marriedwomen with low dowries expect to be victims of domesticviolence, not only at the hands of their husbands, but also atthe hands of their inlaws. 55Violent households are often venues for child abuse.Child abuse includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological/verbalabuse, commercial or other exploitation ofchildren, as well as neglect and negligent treatment ofchildren. As with many crimes, there is no ‘universal’ definitionof child abuse. For example, some definitions includewitnessing parental violence as child maltreatment, whereasothers do not. Vast numbers of children are exposed toviolence each year. The United Nations estimates thatOceania South-Central West-Central SoutheastAmerica Europe EuropeNorthAmericaEastEuropebetween 133 million and 275 million children experienceviolence at home annually, with the largest proportion inSouth, Western and Eastern Asia, as well as in sub-SaharanAfrica. 56 Boys and girls are often equally subjected to childabuse by family members and are equally victimized by childlabour exploitation. However, globally, girls make up 98 percent of children who are sexually exploited. 57Most children experience abuse at the hands of theirprimary caregivers – parents and step-parents – with abuselargely taking place within the home. Consequently, somechildren either run away from home or are removed byauthorities and placed in foster care or orphanages. In 2003,12 per cent of children in sub-Saharan Africa, 7 per cent inAsia and 6 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean wereliving in orphanages. 58 A major factor contributing to thehigh rates of children in orphanages is the death of parentslargely attributable to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Manyorphaned children are at great risk of abuse and exploitation.59 Early marriage is also used by victimized children as ameans of escaping abuse. It is important to note that thereare other reasons why youths may marry early, includingcultural tradition, religious reasons or to obtain financialsecurity.Children are increasingly being victimized outsidetheir homes – in schools and hospitals and by individualsother than primary caregivers, such as teachers, police orclergy in the workplace and in community settings at large. 60The World Report on Violence and Health reports that57,000 children were murdered internationally in 2000.Aside from the fundamental violations of human rights thatthese cases present, child abuse often has been cited as amajor risk factor linked to future criminal behaviour, andrecent research firmly supports that contention. 61Street childrenInterpersonal violence, child abuse, family disintegration andpoverty contribute to the growing numbers of streetchildren and families across the world. Recent globalestimates indicate there are likely to be tens of millions ofstreet children, and some estimates place the number ashigh as 100 million. 62 Other more localized studies point to250,000 street children in Kenya, 150,000 in Ethiopia,12,000 in Zimbabwe, 445,226 in Bangladesh, 30,000 inNepal and 11 million in India. 63 The United NationsChildren’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates there are more than6000 street children in the Central African Republic. 64 It isestimated that there are hundreds of thousands of streetchildren in Latin America, with a significant proportion inBrazil. 65 Future approximations project increasing numbersof street children, growing especially with the pace of urbanization.66 The growth in the numbers of street children isillustrated by the situation in Kenya, where the numbers ofstreet families and children have developed almost exponentially,as discussed in Box 3.2. In the absence of any form offormal assistance, many street children turn to crime as asurvival strategy and eventually become easy targets formembership of youth gangs.