Ending Violence Against Children Hub
Introduction
The Joint Learning Initiative (JLI) has recently launched the Ending Violence Against Children Hub, dedicated to better understanding the role of religion and faith actors in protecting children against violence. The UN defines violence against children as all forms of physical or mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.[1]
The Hub will bring together individuals and organisations from academic, policy and practitioner backgrounds, representing a variety of religious, spiritual and secular affiliations, with the aim of utilising both its networks and knowledge base to better inform and improve policy and praxis.
The global economic cost of violence against children is $7 trillion.[i] Approximately one billion children worldwide have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence in the past year.[ii] Violence against children hampers all other aspects of child development across the lifecycle and fundamentally hinders chances for children to live free of poverty due to its long-term consequences on well-being and behaviour including health, education, income earning potential, social interaction, and more. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) make an explicit, bold and universal commitment to ending violence against children (EVAC), in all its forms. In target 16.2 and other violence-related targets of the SDGs, UN Member States commit to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking, torture and all forms of violence against children by 2030.
Increasingly, practitioners and policymakers recognize that while action at the national and international levels can establish advocacy, legal systems and state policy supporting child protection, lasting impact on children’s lives requires engagement with local community structures, social norms and attitudes. Despite the growing body of evidence, some countries still have little to no data on the prevalence or consequences of violence against children. This scarcity of data is a major obstacle to the protection of children from violence and ability to inform policies and advocate for programs and prevention efforts to stop violence from ever occurring. Without data, violence against children remains a hidden issue. However, there remains a lack of substantial rigorous evidence to indicate the multiple roles that faith-based actors play in preventing and responding to violence against children; what the strengths and weaknesses of such support mechanisms are; the extent to which such mechanisms are integrated into international response systems; and how faith-based actors could be better supported in their work.
It is particularly urgent for the international community to consider the roles that different faith actors play in supporting children affected by violence throughout different stages and spaces of their journeys. Now, more than ever, we need evidence to help policymakers and practitioners better understand the roles that faith-based actors already play, and have the potential to play, in ending violence against children.
This Briefing summarises key evidence from existing academic and policy reports, and ends with 6 key questions that will be explored in the new Ending Violence Against Children Hub.
What we know[1][2][3]
1. Faith communities have been among the strongest advocates for children’s rights, as they value human dignity and count children among the people of God.[iii] Fundamental values of most of the world’s religions, including: prioritizing children and the duty to care and protect them, bringing up children in family units, and a holistic notion of the child, has informed the very development of
children’s rights[iv] [v] [vi].
2. The Kyoto Declaration, adopted by almost 1,000 religious leaders from all world religions in Kyoto, Japan on 28 August 2006, outlines ways religious communities can work to eliminate violence against children.[2] Key actions include: Inter-religious cooperation; Using religious texts to teach about child rights; Advocacy and awareness against violence; and Educating and supporting families and communities to care for children holistically. The declaration also recognizes that some faith actors support positions that are not in line with children’s rights and whereby collaborating with them would question neutrality, integrity and effectiveness in realizing child rights. [vii] [viii]
3. The global commitment of faith communities to the vulnerable was endorsed at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Dialogue on “Faith and Protection” with faith, humanitarian and world leaders in December 2012. The foundation for action was once again based on common ground: “…all major religious value systems embrace humanity, caring and respect, and the tradition of granting protection to those in danger.”[ix]
4.The resources and values of communities of faith fit with what is needed for a comprehensive community-based child protection response. The social resources of faith communities provide a volunteer base, wide networks and denominational contacts.[x] Most religious organizations are already providing support and services to vulnerable people, engaging them in child protection work is merely an extension of something they are doing. The belief that actions and deeds shape your experience of the afterlife shape the motivation of religious communities, and this provides a foundation for holistic, long term relationships and interventions.[xi] [xii]
5.Faith communities are well-placed to enter family spheres for social transformation and change and for shaping family attitudes and practices to enhance child protection. [xiii][4] Child protection [RCH4] [SN5] efforts at the family level are critical and can be meaningfully tailored towards understanding child rights, developing skills to increase family income to meet basic needs; and enhancing parenting skills.[xiv] Practically, faith communities can pay a central role to ensure family-based care for vulnerable children and unaccompanied children; to provide childcare for parents who need support (or to work); to organize safe places for children to play and learn; and to provide counseling and emotional support for children and families.[xv][5]
6. Individuals hold beliefs that help them to recover from or manage adversity. An established body of research documents how religious beliefs frequently operate to support resilience: spirituality and religion may positively influence children’s socialization and development, helping them to find hope and meaning amid crisis situations. values of positivity and ways of interpreting change equip individuals to withstand traumatic events. Faith communities may also provide resources such as social networks that reinforce protective influences and promote children’s resilience. [xvi][xvii]
7.LFCs are uniquely positioned to engage with “controversial” issues. LFCs may have access to issues that are considered sensitive, taboo or stigmatised, and are well-placed to tackle harmful attitudes or practices. For instance, as part of its work to end the practice of female genital mutilation, UNFPA has shown how sensitively handled partnerships with local religious leaders have led to a fundamental shift “among religious leaders, many of whom have gone from endorsing the practice to actively condemning it” within their communities.[xviii]
8. Religious buildings are used to store and distribute aid, as information hubs, and for shelter and protection. In the Central African Republic, Jesuit Refugee Services coordinated IDP response from a convent house. The sanctity of places of worship means they are “inviolable and protected spaces offering protection to vulnerable groups.”[xix]
What We Don’t Know[6]
1.How do faith leaders and religious norms provide support to children who’ve experienced violence? Faith leaders can facilitate access to services, and also have the potential to influence community members’ responses to refugees and IDPs.[xx] Religious norms can lay the foundations for members of LFCs child rearing practices, and support to children who’ve experienced violence, but can also undermine the resilience of the same. Further research is needed to determine the ways that religion can be positively applied to empower children who’ve experienced violence.
2.To what extent do religious identity, values and practice provide psychosocial support and promote resilience?[7][8]Psychosocial practices are embedded deeply in the practice of religious communities: rituals and rites define passage through phases of life, communities united by belief systems offer mutual support, and respected leaders offer interpretations of life’s challenges and advice on the means of surviving them. At the same time, pastoral support provided by faith leaders is often informal, unregulated and detached from formal psychosocial programmes. Research with children[9] who’ve experienced violence will help us better understand the ways in which a faith can support or undermine resilience and coping strategies of children who’ve experienced violence.
3.What is the impact of faith leaders in the child protection system and when leaders intervene in public debates[10] about ending violence against children?[11] Faith leaders often play a key role in the child protection system and public debates relating to ending violence against children. At times they can reinforce negative narratives. Conversely, they often engage in local advocacy to protect children; public advocacy to change social norms or strengthen reporting and referral mechanisms; political advocacy to challenge negative legislation or uphold international humanitarian and human rights laws. More research is essential to understand the effects that faith leaders have in these and other spheres.
4.What is the role of gender in faith-based responses to ending violence against children? Neither LFCs nor secular organisations are automatically ‘conservative’ or ‘progressive’ with regards to gender roles and relations: both religious organisations and secular organisations can carry gender-limiting beliefs and practices. Research with children who’ve experienced violence, members of LFCs and FBOs, and faith leaders is essential to better understand how refugees’ and IDPs’ access to services, faith leaders and religious spaces is gendered in nature.[xxi]
5.What role do faith, faith leaders and communities play in the lives of children [12]who have experienced violence? Faith, spirituality and religious practices are a central feature of life for many people around the world. It is important to better understand the extent to which children’s spiritual needs, and to determine what types of support children who have experienced violence[13] themselves and those children who are vulnerable to violence wish to receive from different actors on local, national and international levels, including from faith leaders and local faith- based social networks[14].
What next?
The Ending Violence Against Children Hub is dedicated to collating and communicating evidence on the role of faith actors in preventing and responding to violence against children in its various form, with a view to influencing policy and praxis. Over the coming years, the Hub will:
· Conduct an in-depth Scoping Study to map existing best practice and challenges across a range of contexts
· Begin addressing the evidence gaps and questions raised by the Scoping Study through collaboration with research projects, and by commissioning its own research
· Widely disseminate evidence, learnings and recommendations to practitioners and policymakers for implementation
Get involved
If you have a background in issues relating to faith and ending violence against children, with policymakers, children, families, communities and faith communities, and are keen to share your learnings and shape the policy discourse on this issue with an international community of like-minded academics and practitioners, visit for information on how to join the Ending Violence Against Children Hub.
Alternatively, contact the Co-Chairs of the Hub
· Robyn Hagan (World Vision International):
· Rebeca Rios-Kohn (Arigatou International):
· Carola Eyber (Queen Margaret University):
Who is the Joint Learning Initiative for Faith & Local Communities?
Founded in 2012 by a broad collaboration of international development organizations, UN agencies, academic institutions, and religious bodies, the Joint Learning Initiative (JLI) is an international collaboration committed to gathering and communicating the highest quality evidence on faith and development worldwide.
JLI Vision:
Full and appropriate engagement of the capacities of faith-based groups in the achievement of the SDGs through effective partnerships with public sector and secular entities, as well as among religious groups themselves.
JLI Goals:
· Build cross-sector, multi-religious, collaborative platforms (Learning Hubs)
· Connect policymakers, practitioners, and academics with the knowledge, resources, and expertise, with particular responsiveness to their wants and needs, to understand the activity and contribution of faith communities
· Support broader global initiatives to catalyze the understanding the contribution & activity of faith groups
The JLI’s current active Learning Hubs include Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Peace & Conflict and Refugees and Forced Migration and Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities.
For more information about the JLIF&LC, visit or contact Stacy Nam, Knowledge Manager at
[1] From article 19 of the CRC; UNICEF definition: Child sexual abuse is the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or abuse she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or that violate the laws or social taboos of society. Child sexual abuse is evidenced by this activity between a child and an adult or another child who by age or development is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other person
[2] Kyoto Declarations broad principles shared by religious traditions (Dodd & Robinson 2010, p.4):
· “Violence against children damages their physical, emotional and spiritual integrity.
· Universal regard for the child as a person with rights and inherent human dignity impels people of faith to join with others in rejecting all forms of violence against children.
· Respect for the human dignity of the child transcends theological and cultural differences and forms a common purpose for working together towards eliminating violence against children.
· Raising the status of children and eliminating violence against them is crucial to a more peaceful and compassionate world.”
[i]
[ii] Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (2017). Retrieved 15 March 2017 from
[iii] Melton, G.B. & Anderson, D., 2008. From Safe Sanctuaries to Strong Communities The Role of Communities of Faith in Child Protection. Fam Community Health, 31(2), pp.173–185.
[iv] Dodd, C. & Robinson, M., 2010. From Commitment to Action: What Religious Communities can do to Eliminate Violence Against Children. Available at:
[v] UNICEF, 2012. Partnering with Religious Communities for Children. Available at:
[vi] Robinson, M., 2010. Conflict, Child Protection and Religious Communities: A Review and Recommendations on Enhancing Protection through Partnership. , (July). Available at:
[vii] Dodd, C. & Robinson, M., 2010. From Commitment to Action: What Religious Communities can do to Eliminate Violence Against Children. Available at:
[viii] UNICEF, 2012. Partnering with Religious Communities for Children. Available at:
[ix] UNHCR, 2012. Welcoming the Stranger: Affirmations for Faith Leaders.
[x] Ager, J., Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. & Ager, A., 2015. Local faith communities and the promotion of resilience in contexts of humanitarian crisis. Journal of Refugee Studies, 28(2), pp.202–221.
[xi] Melton, G.B. & Anderson, D., 2008. From Safe Sanctuaries to Strong Communities The Role of Communities of Faith in Child Protection. Fam Community Health, 31(2), pp.173–185.
[xii] Robinson, M., 2010. Conflict, Child Protection and Religious Communities: A Review and Recommendations on Enhancing Protection through Partnership. , (July). Available at:
[xiii] Ibid.,
[xiv] Firelight Foundation, 2014. Protecting our children: How African community organizations strengthen child protection systems. Available at:
[xv] UNICEF, 2012. Partnering with Religious Communities for Children. Available at:
[xvi] Ibid.,
[xvii] Ager, A. & Nakib, S. El, 2015. Local faith groups as humanitarian actors. World Disasters Report 2015: Local Actors at the Centre of Effective Humanitarian Action (draft).
[xviii] UN Population Fund (2015) Female genital mutilation (FGM) frequently asked questions: UNFPA Approach. Available at: resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions#unfpa_ approach
[xix] El Nakib, S. and Ager, A. (see note 2) p 14.
[xx] Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (Ed) (2016) Gender, Religion and Humanitarian Responses to Refugees. UCL MRU Policy Brief
[xxi] Ibid.,
Appendix
Terms used
[1]This is all positive - do we want to keep it like this or also introduce the notion that faith leaders and faith communities are also involved in some practices that harm children?
[2]Maybe good to acknowledge these practices up front followed by the rest of the positive?
[3][RCH1]Stacy – is this section too full? Should we delete some things? The refugee hub concept paper is shorter and seems more concise…
Also note that many of the same references (see endnotes) were used more than once for the various “facts”. Should we only use them once and then assume users will know that the info is linked?
[SN2]Ideally this note would be 4 pages total, but I think it’s up to all the co-chairs to decide if all points are relevant to include or to shorten it
I would leave all references where needed though if two are identical we just need- Ibid., and the page number
[4][RR3]I agree with Robyn below and suggest that we add something to clarify this from the outset.
[5][RR6]Do we need to consider here that faith communities sometimes also violate children’s rights etc. and need to be transformed?
[6][RCH7]Stacy, should we should shape these questions as a broader group? Some of the questions you had for the refugee hub are relevant to EVAC.
Here a few additional (draft) research questions re: faith and ending violence against children (note these still need work to adjust variables, etc.):
(1) What is the faith community’s role in the child protection system? How can (do) they strengthen or undermine the system? What are the critical success or enabling factors? How can that role be strengthened?