UNICEF alarmed at level of violence experienced by Jamaican children

The UNICEF Jamaica office says it’s alarmed about new findings which indicate that the overwhelming majority of Jamaican children between the ages of two and 14 years have been subjected to violence as a form of discipline.

UNICEF Jamaica representative, Mark Connolly, said the global organisation was frightened by the number of Jamaican children who die violently and who are regularly subjected to sexual violence and violent discipline in their homes, schools and communities.

The UNICEF launched its report A Familiar Face: Violence in the Lives of Children and Adolescents this morning at the regional headquarters of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona The report says eight in ten Jamaican children in the 2-14 years age group experience violence as a form of discipline.

It also says an increasing number of Jamaican children were being killed as a result of violence.

UNICEF highlighted that 47 children were killed by violent means between January and October of this year, based on police statistics.

It says already more children have been killed violently this year than the whole of last year.

In 2016, 41 children were killed violently in Jamaica. And boys accounted for the vast majority of children killed.