Peer-reviewed article
Violence against children during the COVID-19 pandemic
Amiya Bhatia, Camilla Fabbri, Ilan Cerna-Turoff, Ellen Turner, Michelle Lokot et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has increased children's risk of violence at home, in communities, and online, while also weakening child protection systems' ability to detect and respond to violence. The authors use the WHO's INSPIRE framework to analyse how pandemic responses have affected each of seven violence prevention strategies. They call for stronger multisectoral coordination across health, education, law enforcement and social protection sectors, with greater involvement of children in decision-making.
Key points
- The pandemic has affected children's risk of violence in homes, communities and online
- COVID-19 responses have compromised the ability of child protection systems to detect and respond to violence
- Violence prevention and response services have received insufficient attention in national and global pandemic response strategies
- Multisectoral coordination across health, education, law enforcement, housing, child and social protection sectors is needed
- Primary prevention of violence should be prioritized with central involvement of children and adolescents in programme design
Limitations
This is a summary paper drawing on existing evidence rather than a primary research study; it does not provide new empirical data on the prevalence or outcomes of violence during COVID-19, and cannot quantify the scale of changes in violence risk or protection system effectiveness.
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected children's risk of violence in their homes, communities and online, and has compromised the ability of child protection systems to promptly detect and respond to cases of violence. However, the need to strengthen violence prevention and response services has received insufficient attention in national and global pandemic response and mitigation strategies. In this paper, we summarize the growing body of evidence on the links between the pandemic and violence against children. Drawing on the World Health Organization's INSPIRE framework to end violence against children, we illustrate how the pandemic is affecting prevention and response efforts. For each of the seven INSPIRE strategies we identify how responses to the pandemic have changed children's risk of violence. We offer ideas for how governments, policy-makers, and international and civil society organizations can address violence in the context of a protracted COVID-19 crisis. We conclude by highlighting how the current pandemic offers opportunities to improve existing child protection systems to address violence against children. We suggest enhanced multisectoral coordination across the health, education, law enforcement, housing, child and social protection sectors. Actions need to prioritize the primary prevention of violence and promote the central role of children and adolescents in decision-making and programme design processes. Finally, we stress the continued need for better data and evidence to inform violence prevention and response strategies that can be effective during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.