Such violence can leave serious long-term psychological scars which result in increased risky sexual behaviour, substance abuse and violence towards others in adulthood, the report says.
One of the biggest hurdles to exposing such violence is reluctance to shed light on what is going on inside the home, said Amaya Gillespie, director of the secretariat of the UN secretary-general's study on violence against children.
"Probably the biggest barrier to that is the lack of leadership and not least in the political circles. There's really a reluctance to look at home and family, as if there's some kind of privacy barrier there," Gillespie said, appearing on CTV's Canada AM.
The UN is calling on every country to have a national strategy to outlaw violence against children and ensure their rights are protected.
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CTV.ca News Staff
Posted at 2006/10/13 08:34:15
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