UNICEF launches ‘End Violence’ against children campaign in Georgia

On Child Protection Day the UNICEF has launched a campaign ‘End Violence’ in Georgia today with EU support to contribute to forming a shared understanding of what is violence against children and that violence is unacceptable

A communication for social change campaign to influence social norms on violence against children will last until the end of the year, said UNICEF.

Ending violence against children is a responsibility of the state and there is a need to further enhance the implementation of state child protection mechanisms, especially to strengthen the measures of early detection and immediate and adequate response to violence”, said Laila O. Gad, UNICEF Representative in Georgia.

But it is also important to change cultural and social norms that contribute to the high level of tolerance towards violence. Ending violence against children is everybody’s business. We all have to unite our efforts to make the invisible visible”, added Laila O. Gad.

The campaign is based on a social norms analysis study, which scrutinised the norms related to violence against children and confirmed that using violent parenting methods is a social norm. Harsh disciplining of children is frequent in families and schools.

Children may experience violence on the street, at home or school. It can be both physical and psychological, often leaving a lasting impression”, said Janos Herman, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia.

The EU works closely with the government to respond with systems such as the Child Protection Referral Procedure. But these alone cannot address the challenge presented by social norms which tend to accept disciplinary use of violence and physical punishment. With today's launch of the 'End Violence' awareness campaign, we hope to raise public discussion of these issues and support a shift to improving methods of education and parenting”, he added.