非政府组织:结束针对儿童的暴力

NGOs: End Childhood Violence 非政府组织:结束针对儿童的暴力

Two rights groups said violence affects about one billion children every year and its consequences cost economies seven trillion dollars annually¹. The NGOs said while violence against women and girls has gained more attention, violence against boys has not. It’s a leading cause of death for adolescent boys in many parts of the world.

The groups Without Violence and Together for Girls said violence against children is a major challenge to development. They say that “continued exposure to violence – whether as a victim or a witness – has significant detrimental² effects on a child’s brain.” Those effects include post-traumatic stress leading to social, emotional and behavioral problems.

Lisa Witter is executive director of Without Violence or as she describes herself, the group’s “chief optimist³.”

She said, “Violence against children is an issue that happens all around the world – in every country, in every income level of the home and whether the parents are educated or not. And violence against children happens everywhere. We’ve learned in talking about the issue of violence that different people have definitions about what violence against children is. Is it mental abuse? Is it physical abuse? Is it corporal punishment? Is it war? It’s all of it. We’re really looking at reducing violence in any setting and in any way against children.”

Witter said girls are especially vulnerable to sexual violence and child marriage, which she also considers a form of violence.

“Girls are much more likely to be married under the age of 18 than boys. And this is a real violent act. It’s not under her own will and they should be girls, not brides.”

As for boys, she said, “One in five victims of homicide are children and boys account for 70 percent of them. Real, harsh violence is really a big issue for boys. Sexual violence, as I said, is a big issue for girls, but 73 million boys under the age of 18 experience sexual violence. So while girls are at a higher risk factor for it, it’s a boys’ issue. And then the other issue we think a lot about are child soldiers. There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world and 90 percent of them are boys.”

She also said that 156 million men alive today were married as children.

Witter and Michele Moloney-Kitts, head of Together for Girls, have written an opinion piece in which they said, “Violence is like a transmitted disease – and growing up around violence is the single best predictor that a child will go on to become either a victim or perpetrator of violence as adults.”

They said that gender⁴ norms make it difficult for boys to admit they are victims of violence. In fact, on average, men who finally disclose they were sexually assaulted do so 22 years after the assault occurred. That’s about 10 years later than women.

To help boys become less vulnerable to violence, the NGOs recommended parenting programs for caregivers. School-based programs, they say, can teach adolescents about “safe dating practices.” Mentoring⁵ programs have shown success in preventing homicides or joining gangs.

The groups want the issue included in the new U.N. Sustainable Development goals that will be finalized⁶ in September. Witter said life can be better for every child if U.N. members invest in breaking the cycle of violence. 

“I care deeply about boys and girls, you know. And I want to reduce violence against girls and I want to reduce violence against boys. I’m a mother of two young boys, six and eight, and this stuff is very personal to me. We can’t stop the cycle of violence unless we focus on boys and girls. What we want to do is just continue through the U.N. process and through talking to companies and through talking to communities and help scaling things that we know that work so that we reduce violence,” she said.

In related news, at the Third International Conference for Financing for Development in Addis Ababa this week, a global partnership⁷ was announced to end violence against children.

1 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

2 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

3 optimist   

n.乐观的人，乐观主义者

参考例句：

• We are optimist and realist.我们是乐观主义者，又是现实主义者。
• Peter,ever the optimist,said things were bound to improve.一向乐观的皮特说，事情必定是会好转的。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

6 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。