A new global conference is boosting international awareness that institutions are harming children and that institutionalisation must end.
When you think of violence against children, what are the images that spring to mind? A smack? A punch? A wounded child in a warzone?
Usually when we hear the word violence, our minds go the physical aspect of its definition. And after all, those examples above are all forms of violence against children – and they’re the ones we see on social media and hear about on the news almost every day.
Yet separating children from their families, locking them away in institutions, neglecting them, subjecting them to trauma, these are all violent acts too. They’re just largely hidden away – both from our news feeds and from conversations around violence against children.
But that situation is changing.
Earlier this month, the first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children took place in Bogota, Columbia.
Organised by the Governments of Colombia and Sweden – in partnership with WHO, UNICEF and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on ending violence against children – this was a gathering of some of the most influential voices in child protection on the planet. It was heartening to see so many countries making pledges to tackle violence against children.
Hope and Homes for Children’s staff were able to attend the conference in a virtual capacity, and we pushed hard to make governments understand that deinstitutionalisation must be a key pillar of any serious strategy to end violence against children.
Through our work, we have been able to increase the understanding of the multi-faceted nature of the harm that institutionalisation visits on children, and raise awareness that:
- Children in orphanages are particularly at risk of violence compared to children in other settings.
- The violence that occurs in institutions includes verbal abuse, beatings and physical torture, sexual abuse (including rape), isolation, harassment, and humiliating discipline. This sometimes includes solitary confinement, physical restraints and forced medication.
- A recent study found evidence that over half the children in institutional care experienced physical or sexual abuse.*
- Children with disabilities experience extra levels of harm and stigma, and are often at much greater risk of being put in orphanages and similar institutions.
- When children experience violence in the family and need to be removed for their own safety, they should not be traumatised again by being placed in an orphanage. Alternative family care should always be prioritised.
- If they want to end violence against, governments need to end the practice of placing children in orphanages.
- Ending violence against children means strengthening child protection systems, supporting social workers, investing in social protection and building strong resilient families.
Growing global recognition
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated that placing a child in institutional care amounts to deprivation of liberty.
The 2019 UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty argued that this results in 5.4 million children being deprived of liberty per year in institutions worldwide, saying:
“Deprivation of liberty is occurring within a wide range of institutions, including through the following measures: children being confined and cut off from communities, having limited or no contact with their families, often placed far away from where they live. The use of physical restraints, isolation and solitary confinement occur in some institutions, which are particularly egregious examples of deprivation of liberty, in some instances amounting to torture.”
The Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children will be a vital tool for us in helping to nurture this growing international awareness of the harms of institutionalisation.
We’re optimistic that the outcomes from the conference will result in tangible actions – including changes to care systems and improved support services – that will result in more governments stepping up to get children out of orphanages and back to family.
Listening is essential
The quotes from young people in this blog only hint at the kind of suffering and harm that institutionalisation is causing.
And we know we won’t be able to find effective ways to end institutionalisation unless we place children’s voices right at the centre of our work.
By listening to what they have to tell us about their experiences, and making sure their thoughts and insights lie at the heart of what we do, we’re able to create and build scalable systems and solutions that will bring an end to institutionalisation for good.
* C. L. Gray and others, ‘Prevalence and Incidence of Traumatic Experiences Among Orphans in Institutional and Family-Based Settings in 5 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Longitudinal Study’, Global Health: Science & Practice, 3 (2015a), 395–404 https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-15-0009
