Bangkok Post – One in eight girls have been raped or sexually assaulted before the age of 18

According to the report, about one in eleven boys and men are also victims

UNITED NATIONS – More than 370 million girls and women alive today, i.e.

The number rises to 650 million, or a fifth, when “non-contact” forms of sexual violence such as online or verbal violence are taken into account, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) reported in its first global survey of the problem.

The report says that while girls and women are most affected, 240 to 310 million boys and men, or about one in eleven, experienced rape or sexual assault in their childhood.

“The scale of this human rights violation is staggering and difficult to grasp due to stigma, challenges in measurement and limited investment in data collection,” the organization said in releasing the report.

It comes ahead of the first global ministerial conference on ending violence against children in Colombia next month.

Unicef ​​said its findings underscore the urgent need for increased global action, including by strengthening laws and helping children identify and report sexual violence.

According to Unicef, sexual violence extends across geographical, cultural and economic boundaries, but most victims are in sub-Saharan Africa: 79 million girls and women, or 22%, are affected. This is followed by East and Southeast Asia with 75 million or 8%.

In its data for women and girls, Unicef ​​estimated that 73 million, or 9%, were affected in Central and South Asia; 68 million or 14% in Europe and North America; 45 million or 18% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 29 million or 15% in North Africa and West Asia.

At 6 million, Oceania was the most affected in percentage terms at 34%.

In “fragile environments,” including those with weak institutions, UN peacekeepers or large numbers of refugees, the risks were higher, rising to a quarter, the report said.

UNICEF director Catherine Russell described sexual violence against children as “a stain on our moral conscience”.

“It causes deep and lasting trauma, often at the hands of someone the child knows and trusts, in places where they should feel safe.”

Unicef ​​said most childhood sexual violence occurs in adolescence, particularly between the ages of 14 and 17, and those who suffer it are at higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse and mental health problems.

“The impact is made even worse when children do not disclose their experiences… or keep the abuse completely secret,” Unicef ​​said.

Given the persistent data gaps, particularly on boys’ experiences, greater investment in data collection is needed to fully understand the problem.

The agency said it bases its estimates of girls’ and women’s experiences on nationally representative surveys conducted in 120 countries and regions between 2010 and 2022. It said the estimates for boys and men were derived from a broader range of data sources and used some indirect methods.