Children speak out on the World Day against Violence

Today is World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse. 

It is a moment that reminds us all that the protection and safeguarding of children is in our hands, as adults. The duty to protect could not be more important in the difficult time that we are going through because of COVID-19 and because of the situation of military instability in the central region of the country and in the province of Cabo Delgado, where many children spend more time in confined environments than ever witnessed before.

In Mozambique, where more than 48 percent of children live in absolute poverty, exposure to different types of abuse is greater, often including its most neglected forms such as domestic employment or working on farms, up to corporal punishment and humiliating treatment. This always comes in place of fundamental rights such as education and health.

 As we celebrate this date, we bring children together in different parts of the country to give us their perceptions of violence and abuse. The drawings in the images are a reflection of how this date can be interpreted from the children's perspective.