Violence Against Children: Recognition, Rights, Responses.

Area of Science:

• Child development
• Public health
• Human rights

Background:

• Traditional definitions of child maltreatment are insufficient for the evolving global landscape of violence against children (VAC).
• Existing frameworks do not fully encompass the diverse and complex nature of contemporary VAC.
• There is a need for a comprehensive understanding of VAC rooted in children's rights.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an expanded definition of violence against children (VAC) integrating child rights, clinical medicine, and public health principles.
• To broaden the socioecological model by introducing a trans-societal sphere encompassing root-cause determinants of VAC.
• To present a child rights-based taxonomy for classifying VAC.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual expansion of the socioecological model to include a trans-societal sphere.
• Integration of principles from child rights, clinical medicine, and public health.
• Development of a novel taxonomy for VAC based on child rights.

Main Results:

• An expanded definition of VAC is presented, encompassing a wider range of harms and contexts.
• The trans-societal sphere identifies macro-level determinants such as climate change, globalization, and armed conflict as drivers of VAC.
• A child rights-based taxonomy provides a structured approach to understanding and categorizing VAC.

Conclusions:

• The expanded definition and frameworks offer a more holistic approach to understanding and addressing VAC.
• Recommendations are provided for clinical practice, systems development, and policy generation to combat VAC.
• Addressing VAC requires a multi-level approach considering global determinants and child rights principles.