Global experts gather in New York for roadmap on preventing violence against children

NEW YORK, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Leading scientists, clinicians, policymakers, funders and advocates from around the world have called for a collective action on preventing violence against children.

"Although we have at least one billion children in the world that every year experience violence, violence is preventable," Joanna Rubinstein, World Childhood Foundation USA President and CEO, told Xinhua on Friday as a conference on ending violence against children wrapped up at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

"We don't have to develop new vaccines and drugs. But, it requires a global movement that can lead to changing social norms," Rubinstein said.

The conference, "Ending Violence Against Children: Developing a Roadmap to a Healthy Childhood and Adolescence," was co-hosted by Rubinstein's organization and the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center (MSAHC) on Thursday and Friday.

The conference was "one of the rare moments" when global scientists, practitioners, NGOs, social workers, policymakers to discuss how to work together and create a "collective action to overcome some of the persistent barriers to end all forms of violence against children," said Rubinstein.

"This conference builds on the new opportunity provided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals framework," said Rubinstein. "Hopefully, it will help to spur collective action and unprecedented collaborations to end all forms of violence against children, and will be an impetus for creating a roadmap to end violence against children by 2030 in New York, the United States, and globally."

Violence against children, including sexual abuse and exploitation, is a "hidden public health epidemic" in the United States and around the world, and "one that bears a lifetime of burden" for its victims, including mental health and substance abuse problems later in life, and the physical effects of repeated or chronic stress, said Angela Diaz, MSAHC director.

"We need to identify concrete solutions to end this cycle of violence, and give children every opportunity for a bright future," said Diaz. "Our goal with this conference is to come away with a realistic roadmap for action that can help ensure future generations grow up free from this abuse and neglect."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, approximately 676,000 children in the United States were victims of abuse and neglect in 2016, an increase of three percent over 2012, said a press release issued by the conference hosts.

Of these children, 18 percent were physically abused and 8.5 percent were sexually abused. About 1,750 children died from this abuse and neglect - nearly five children each day, it said.

Little is known about the true number of children who are sexually exploited and trafficked in the United States, but estimates by the U.S. Department of Justice range from around 10,000 to more than 20,000 each year; some experts believe that these numbers may actually understate the magnitude of this problem, the release said. Enditem