The first two-day high-level event on violence against children started in Yerevan today, the country joined the The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

As a landmark country, which has undertaken practical steps to end the problem in the course of 3-5 years, the Government of Armenia is currently developing a roadmap that is the main theme of the conference. Under the slogan “Make the Invisible Visible” this event focuses on violence as a negative childhood experience and its destructive effects. The conference will pay special attention to preventing violence from two perspectives: general prevention and prevention through early detection. There was reference to different strategies for the elimination of violence against girls and boys in the context of prevention of violence and response.

“Violence is a choice and it can be prevented. Violence against children is often justified as a necessary or inevitable phenomenon, but there is only one opinion that violence against children is a violation of rights that requires a comprehensive response,” said Mrs. Afshan Khan, the UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia (ECA, within the framework of her first visit. “Significant gaps in the capacity to detect and resolve the cases of violence can be successfully completed only through early detection of violence against children, through interdisciplinary cooperation and coordination to prevent and respond to violence.”

Recent data on child abuse in Armenia show that 7 of 10 children have been subjected to physical or psychological violence among children aged 1-14. 65% of children were subjected to psychological violence, and 38% were subjected to physical violence. Almost half of children aged one to two years have been subjected to a violent method of upbringing.

Violence has a disastrous effect on children and adolescents, the most vulnerable members of our society, causing them health and social problems. In an early age, violence may undermine the brain and damage the nervous system, as well as endocrine, blood, muscular, reproductive, respiratory, and immune systems that can endanger the lives of children during the whole life..

Immediate and long-term public health consequences and economic spending on girls and boys negatively affect the country’s development, devaluate investments in education, health, child welfare, and undermine the potential of future generations.

The Conference is a step to reinforce the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to ensure that every child is protected from violence, in conformity with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Sustainable Development Goal 16.2, which addresses the abolition of abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children.