Structural Violence Against Children in South Asia © Unicef Rosa 2018
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STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA © UNICEF ROSA 2018 Cover Photo: Bangladesh, Jamalpur: Children and other community members watching an anti-child marriage drama performed by members of an Adolescent Club. © UNICEF/South Asia 2016/Bronstein The material in this report has been commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) regional office in South Asia. UNICEF accepts no responsibility for errors. The designations in this work do not imply an opinion on the legal status of any country or territory, or of its authorities, or the delimitation of frontiers. Permission to copy, disseminate or otherwise use information from this publication is granted so long as appropriate acknowledgement is given. The suggested citation is: United Nations Children’s Fund, Structural Violence against Children in South Asia, UNICEF, Kathmandu, 2018. STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS UNICEF would like to acknowledge Parveen from the University of Sheffield, Drs. Taveeshi Gupta with Fiona Samuels Ramya Subrahmanian of Know Violence in for their work in developing this report. The Childhood, and Enakshi Ganguly Thukral report was prepared under the guidance of of HAQ (Centre for Child Rights India). Kendra Gregson with Sheeba Harma of the From UNICEF, staff members representing United Nations Children's Fund Regional the fields of child protection, gender Office in South Asia. and research, provided important inputs informed by specific South Asia country This report benefited from the contribution contexts, programming and current violence of a distinguished reference group: research. In particular, from UNICEF we Susan Bissell of the Global Partnership would like to thank: Ann Rosemary Arnott, to End Violence against Children, Ingrid Roshni Basu, Ramiz Behbudov, Sarah Fitzgerald of United Nations Population Coleman, Shreyasi Jha, Aniruddha Kulkarni, Fund Asia and the Pacific region, Shireen Mary Catherine Maternowska and Eri Jejeebhoy of the Population Council, Ali Mathers Suzuki. CONTENTS ACRONYMS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 1 INTRODUCTION 8 1.1 Objective and aims 8 1.2 Methodology 9 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 10 2.1 What is structural violence? 10 2.2 Social-ecological framework and structural violence 11 3 STRUCTURES ARE NOT NEUTRAL: ‘UNPACKING’ STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 14 3.1 Socio-cultural systems 15 3.1.1 Norms around the ‘ideal’ girl and the ‘ideal’ boy 18 3.1.2 Maintaining honour and ijjat/izzat 19 3.1.3 Kinship rules 24 3.1.4 Devaluing girls and women 26 3.1.5 Understandings of parenting 29 3.1.6 Socialization of discriminatory norms 32 3.1.7 Acceptability of violence 33 3.1.8 Ease of exploitation of children 35 3.2 Economic systems 36 3.2.1 Son preference 37 3.2.2 Child marriage 38 3.2.3 Dowry-related violence 40 3.2.4 Domestic violence 40 3.2.5 Physical, emotional, and sexual violence 41 3.2.6 Child labour 43 3.2.7 Trafficking 46 3.2.8 Children with disabilities 48 3.3 Fragile institutions 49 3.3.1 Violence against girls and women 49 3.3.2 Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at home and in schools 51 3.3.3 Child labour 52 3.3.4 Child soldiers 53 3.4 Impact of structural violence on psycho-social and mental health 54 6 4 INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE TO STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE 56 4.1 Prevention 56 4.2 Response 59 4.2.1 Laws and policies 60 4.2.2 Governance 64 4.2.3 Health services 67 5 CONCLUSIONS 70 BIBLIOGRAPHY 73 ANNEX: METHODOLOGY 84 LIST OF TABLE, BOXES & FIGURE Table 1 Availability of legal provisions and policies for child protection in South Asia 60 Box 1 Analysis of media and honour-based violence: Case study from Pakistan 20 Box 2 Chhaupadi and goth pratha in Nepal: Value of purity and cleanliness as structural violence 23 Box 3 Cultural variations in markers for transitioning to adulthood 26 Box 4 Bangladesh’s sex-selected abortion rates 37 Box 5 ICT use as a medium for violence against children and adolescents 43 Box 6 Nationalism as an emerging form of violence 52 Box 7 Good practice example from India: An anti-trafficking network 59 Box 8 Good practice of an inclusive child protection act in Bhutan 61 Box 9 Women and child-friendly desks in Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka 65 Figure 1 Understanding structural violence using a socio-ecological framework 13 STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA 1 ACRONYMS AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AWON Action Works Nepal DHS Demographic and Health Survey FGM/C Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus ICT Information and Communication Technology ILO International Labour Organization IMAGES International Men and Gender Equality Survey IPV Intimate Partner Violence LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam NGO Non-Governmental Organization P4P Partners for Prevention RMG Ready-Made Garment SAIEVAC South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children SC Scheduled Caste ST Scheduled Tribe UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund WCD Women and Child Desk WCSC Women and Children Service Centre WHO World Health Organization EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since the 2006 UN Global Study on Violence understood through a socio-cultural, economic against Children, scholars, practitioners systems, and fragile institutions lens. and programme implementers have made strong efforts to understand violence against Gender-based structural violence children using an inter-disciplinary lens. What • Structural violence owing to gender is emerging now is a gap in knowledge reveals itself through unequal hierarchies on the determinants of the risk factors between men and women, characteristic underlying violence – that is, the invisible and of patriarchal societies. Using a socio- indirect factors that in the global literature cultural lens, norms around an ‘ideal’ girl are known as ‘structural violence’. This or boy, maintaining family honour, kinship review was carried out to describe the state rules, socialization of discriminatory of research on structural violence and its norms, devaluing of girls and women and relationship with interpersonal violence. acceptability of violence all play a role in creating conditions that increase the Structural violence is understood as patterns chances of children facing interpersonal of differences within large-scale social violence. structures – differences of power, wealth, • Inequality, discrimination, exploitation and privilege, education and health – that are forced choice are themes that permeate unjust and unequal. This form of violence also children and adolescents’ lives. Inequality occurs in a society if institutions and policies manifests in violence such as child are designed in a way that creates barriers marriage, domestic violence and honour- or inequitable access to a range of goods based killings, since girls are defined by and services for some people but not others. their relationships to the men in their lives Overall, as a result of structural violence, and unequally bear the burden of upholding people experience extreme social oppression the family’s honour. Boys face inequality and, consequently, erosion of human dignity since their experiences of abuse are often and of all associated dimensions, including dismissed and considered less traumatic confidence, overall well-being and security. than girl’s. • For all children, modelling of gender-typed behaviours at home reinforces the cycle KEY FINDINGS of discriminatory norms. Girls and boys who see household chores as gender- The literature indicates that there are five segregated are also expected to types of structural violence prevalent across follow the pattern that adults do: girls spend the South Asia region that underlie all forms of more time in unpaid labour at home than interpersonal violence reviewed. These can be boys, who spend more time in paid labour. STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA 3 • Using an economics lens, gender-based • While economic necessities often dictate structural violence manifests as son interpersonal forms of violence such preference and dowry-related violence, as child labour, cultural expectations given that the economic ‘worth’ of a girl around the importance of contributing to is tied to how much dowry she brings household income, as well as the belief whereas the ‘worth’ of a boy is tied to that children are easily exploitable, ensure how much dowry can be demanded. children face something known as ‘forced Additionally, lack of employment choice’ – that is, a choice limited to two opportunities, intersecting with social alternatives, an ‘either/or’ choice, with norms that restrict girls’ movement and those who have more power favoured in freedom, ensures financial independence any setting. In Sri Lanka, heavy migration remains unattainable for most girls, to the Middle East has led to an increase often paving the way either to marriage in demand for domestic servants, with or to dangerous work such as domestic children increasingly sought out as they servitude or the sex trade. Moreover, are willing to work for less money and socio-cultural and economic systems have fewer demands (related to lodgings, overlap such that the systemic devaluing amount of food, etc.). of girls and women as individuals with • In fragile settings, age-based structural their own rights creates a context where violence can manifest in recruitment of women are seen as commodities. child soldiers, as children are thought to Owning women and their bodies is crucial less likely to be searched or questioned to having control over honour. by authorities because of a belief that • Fragile institutions further place children they are unlikely to engage in militaristic at risk, with girls and women facing activities. severe sexual abuse during times of conflict. Boys often experience pressure Socio-economic-based structural violence to seek work, given the high chance of • The economic burden of being in fathers being absent owing to war-related poverty increases the likelihood of death or injury. child marriage, domestic violence, child labour, child maltreatment, trafficking Age-based structural violence and children living on the street.