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Number of child, adolescent victims of torture increasing: UN

Xinhua, April 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT) on Wednesday said the number of child and adolescent victims of torture had been increasing, according to figures collected by its network.

According to a report issued by UNVFVT on Wednesday, in 2016, an estimated 5,279 child and adolescent victims of torture are expected to be given assistance by organizations funded by it, while in 2015, the organizations reported assisting 3,995 child victims up to the age of 18.

"Under an arrangement allowing UNVFVT emergency funding over the past two years, organizations say they estimate helping 52 children this year while in 2015, no children were among the victims given help," the report noted.

"These numbers, as reported by grantees of the UNVFVT, are alarming. Torture is coming back, and coming back with a kind of acceptance," said Laura Dolci-Kanaan, the fund's secretary.

Overall, last year UNVFVT provided direct help through 184 organizations to a total of more than 57,000 adult and child victims in over 80 counties.

In 2016, UNVFVT said it would assist an estimated total of 47,000 victims in over 81 countries through 178 organizations, which typically provide direct medical, psychological, social and legal help to torture victims.

The UNVFVT is scheduled to host a discussion on Friday in Geneva to address this subject, during which UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, together with doctors, lawyers, social workers and psychologists from across the world, will discuss how to deal with child victims and prevent torture through the generations. Endit