Violence against children, the voices of Ugandan ... - Raising Voices

KEY FINDINGSMore than 90 percent of children participating inthe study reported experiencing violence at thehands of adults they knew at home, at school, andin their communities. These reports came fromchildren living in broadly divergent circumstancesand geographically and culturally diverse districts.Young children and older children, in-school andout-of-school, girls and boys all said with clarityand unanimity that the violence against themwas too much, and that something needed to bedone urgently. While the specific experiences ofviolence sometimes varied according to age, sex,and district, almost every child talked about thenegative impact that these experiences had on theirself-confidence, and their trust in these adults whowere supposed to be their allies.Key findings from the study of children’sexperiences include the following:1. Violence against children exists in the natureof the relationship between adult and childand not only in the act of violence itself.Children understood that violence is not just anact but also the context and the tone of theirrelationship with adults. They expressed anxietyand a profound alienation when asked to talk abouthow adults treated them. They talked about beingfearful of adults and ashamed of themselves inmany transactions. They learned over a period oftime that adults had more power in the adult-childrelationship and that adults often misused thispower.2. Children’s experiences of violence aremultifaceted.It was apparent that if a child was experiencingone form of violence, they were also vulnerableto other forms of violence. Most children talkedabout experiencing physical and emotionalviolence concurrently, about being beaten whenthey asked for school fees or threatened if theyreported sexual abuse. Many children talked aboutexperiencing several forms of violence from thesame adult.3. Children’s experiences of violence depend ontheir sex, age, and status within the family.While no child is immune to any of the fourforms of violence discussed in this study, certainforms of violence were reported more oftenby certain groups of children. Older girls weremore vulnerable to sexual violence, while olderboys were more vulnerable to extreme forms ofphysical punishment. Younger children were morevulnerable to being bullied by older children andto emotional violence. Children with a disabilitywere more likely to be denied access to education,and out-of-school children were more likely tobe disowned. However, despite the variety, theyall talked about a common underlying sense ofpowerlessness.4. Children have an intense reaction to violenceagainst them.Children talked of a broad range of feelingsspanning from rage and fantasies of revenge todespondency and feelings of powerlessness. Theyfelt a deep sense of betrayal and a consequentialloss of trust in adults. A significant proportion ofthe children talked about transitory thoughts ofsuicide. Older children often displaced their angeron younger children or girls by victimizing them atschools or in the community.54 Part Two Children’s Experiences