More than 370 million girls and women alive today – or nearly one in eight – experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, according to the first global estimates of the problem.
A new UNICEF report describes sexual violence against children as a “gross” human rights violation, with survivors carrying the trauma into adulthood. It said the scale of the breach was “abhorrent in its scale”.
When “non-contact” forms of sexual violence, such as unwanted sexual jokes or comments, exposure to pornography or exposure of genitalia, are included, the rate rises to one in five, the researchers found.
Although girls and women are worst affected, roughly one in 11 boys or men were raped or sexually abused as children, the agency said.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said: “Sexual violence against children is a stain on our moral conscience. It causes deep and lasting trauma, often by someone the child knows and trusts, in places where they should feel safe.
The report included anonymous stories and individual cases, including that of 12-year-old Analyn, who was rescued from her home in the Philippines and taken to a government shelter. At age 10, she took part in a live broadcast of child sexual abuse after a neighbor approached her and paid her.
Xume, a 15-year-old goatherd from a village in Ethiopia, was ostracized by her community after being raped. She said: “Cows are dying because of drought, but people said it was my fault because I was a bad person. Because I was raped, I didn't tell anyone out of shame and fear.
“But when I was pregnant, I was ostracized from society and blamed for the deaths of cows.”
Most childhood sexual violence is directed at teenagers, especially those between the ages of 14 and 17. Often the abusers are family, friends or intimate partners.
Children in Fragile Systems and Weak Institutions, said Russell, UN. People like peacekeepers or large numbers of refugees are particularly vulnerable. In those areas, one in four women has been raped or sexually assaulted.
“We see horrific sexual violence in conflict zones where rape and gender-based violence are often used as weapons of war,” she said.
The report found that sexual violence against children occurred in all regions of the world. The highest rate was in Oceania, where 34% of women – 6 million people – were affected. The highest number was in sub-Saharan Africa, where 79 million women and girls, or 22%, were affected.
However, due to varying levels of underreporting and social and cultural norms, caution is necessary when comparing between regions, UNICEF said.
In 2015, the global community committed to ending all forms of violence against children by 2030. Sustainable Development Goals. The report comes ahead of an opening ceremony of the Global Ministerial Conference to End Violence Against Children in Colombia in November.
Unicef said the scale of sexual violence against children was difficult to understand “due to stigma, challenges in measurement and limited investment in data collection”. This was particularly true when looking at children's experiences and forms of non-contact, the UN said.
But “since the turn of the millennium, the widespread boom in global Internet access and use of digital and mobile technology has created new forms of sexual abuse and exploitation,” it said.
The report is based on surveys conducted in 120 countries and regions between 2010 and 2022, while estimates for boys and men and non-contact sexual violence “were reported through a wide range of data sources and used some indirect methods”.
