Violent Beginnings

Violent beginnings: Children growing up in Lebanon’s crisis’ report also details that around 1.8 million children (more than 80 per cent) are now experiencing multidimensional poverty – up from around 900,000 in 2019 - and risk being forced into abuses such as child labour or child marriage to help their families make ends meet.

“Lebanon’s crisis threatens the present and the future of millions of children. Ensuring their protection from abuse, harm, and violence and safeguarding their rights are needed more than ever”, emphasized the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Violence against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid.

Lebanon is reeling from the impact of national financial and political turmoil, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the aftermath of the August 2020 Beirut Port explosions.
 In an October survey, 12 per cent of families questioned said that they sent at least one child to work, up from 9 per cent six months previously. Children as young as six are now working on farms, on the streets and illegally selling fuel, putting them at risk of serious burns and even death.

Young girls risk being married off by desperate families who are seeking dowries. One in five Syrian girls between the ages of 15-19 in Lebanon is married.

Civil society organisations are reporting a rise in cases of domestic violence. The proportion of Lebanese girls and women seeking services for gender-based violence rose sharply in the past three years (from 21 per cent of total cases in 2018, to 26 per cent in 2019, to 35 per cent in 2020).

As families face destitution, experts fear the number of children ending up separated from extended family and in residential care could increase.

Growing numbers of children are coming into contact with the criminal justice system after participating in protests, falling victim to violence, or being pushed into crime as a means to survive.

New threats to children are being documented as families become increasingly desperate: including destitute families abandoning babies in the streets and children facing increased risk of abduction.

“Investing in children’s protection, development and wellbeing cannot wait. Investing in children is essential for building an inclusive, peaceful, just and resilient society that keeps children safe from harm and leaves no one behind”, added the SRSG on Violence against Children.

 

_{Source & credit: UNICEF}