• March 19, 2024

UNICEF REPORT: 120 million girls, 10% are sexually abused

Demonstrators from All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the recent killings of two teenage girls, in New Delhi May 31, 2014.(Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
Demonstrators from All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the recent killings of two teenage girls, in New Delhi May 31, 2014.(Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

One in ten girls under the age of 20, or about 120 million across the globe, have been sexually abused, according to the latest conservative figures by UNICEF.

The same report found that six in ten kids aged 2-14 are regularly subject to physical punishment.

According to UNICEF’s report based on 190 countries, between 30 and 80 percent of victims don’t disclose experiences of childhood sexual abuse until adulthood, while many others (a number impossible to quantify) remain silent for their entire lives.

For instance, in India, in 2011, 10.6 percent of rape victims were under the age of 14.

One might think that when a girl gets married, the trouble stops, but it’s not true: almost one in three married young women have been victims of emotional, physical and/or sexual violence inflicted by their partners – especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Another alarming trend is that nearly 50 percent of the girls believe a husband is allowed to hit or beat his wife from time to time.

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