UNICEF, UNFPA and partners are will host: #ENDviolence against Children and Adolescents with Disabilities, a side event for the 60th Session of the CSW and for World Down Syndrome Day
21 March 2016, 1:15pm – 2:45pm, UNICEF House, Labouisse Hall (44th street between 1st and 2nd Ave), New York, NY. Registration is required by 18 March 2016.
Sponsors and Partners: UNICEF, Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities, UNFPA, UN Women, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Violence against Children, Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, , Special Rapporteur on the UNCRPD, International Disability Alliance (IDA), Brazilian Consulate General in New York, Down Syndrome International, Nettles Artists and Meta Social (a Brazilian NGO).
Purpose: To raise awareness and mobilize partners to commit to ending violence against children and adolescents with disabilities
Issue: Violence against children and adolescents is an everyday reality for millions of girls and boys worldwide. It may take place in homes, schools, orphanages, residential care facilities, on the streets, in the workplace, in prisons and in places of detention. Perpetrators of violence can be relatives, neighbors, teachers or care staff,[ as well as other children It can affect children’s and adolescents’ physical and mental health, impair their ability to learn and socialize, and undermine their development as functional adults and good parents later in life. In the most severe cases, violence against children leads to death. While all children are at risk of experiencing violence, including in school and care settings, worldwide children with disabilities are at even higher risk.
Facts:
- Children and adolescents with disabilities are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience physical and sexual violence and neglect than children without disabilities.
- Children and adolescents with disabilities are at significantly increased risk of experiencing sexual violence: up to 68% of girls and 30% of boys with intellectual or developmental disabilities will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.
- Children with disabilities are up to 17 times more likely to live in an institution than their peers without disabilities.
- For every child killed in conflict, three acquire a permanent injury or disabilities
- Despite being one of the most vulnerable groups, infants, children and adolescents with disabilities are often excluded and invisible from data collected on violence.
Details of the event: The event consists of a short performance of the theatre play “Apple of my eye”, written by Tathiana Piancastelli, Brazilian artist with Down syndrome and produced by Nettles Artists Collective. The performance will be followed by a Panel Discussion on violence against children and adolescents with disabilities.
Coffee and refreshments will be served after the event