TY - JOUR
T1 - Climate change is a threat multiplier for violence against children
AU - Cuartas, Jorge
AU - Bhatia, Amiya
AU - Carter, Daniel
AU - Cluver, Lucie
AU - Coll, Carolina
AU - Donger, Elizabeth
AU - Draper, Catherine E.
AU - Gardner, Frances
AU - Herbert, Bess
AU - Kelly, Orla
AU - Lachman, Jamie
AU - M'jid, Najat Maalla
AU - Seidel, Frederique
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Background: The climate crisis is the biggest threat to the health, development, and wellbeing of the current and future generations. While there is extensive evidence on the direct impacts of climate change on human livelihood, there is little evidence on how children and young people are affected, and even less discussion and evidence on how the climate crisis could affect violence against children. Participants and setting: In this commentary, we review selected research to assess the links between the climate crisis and violence against children. Methods: We employ a social-ecological perspective as an overarching framework to organize findings from the literature and call attention to increased violence against children as a specific, yet under-examined, direct and indirect consequence of the climate crisis. Results: Using such a perspective, we examine how the climate crisis exacerbates the risk of violence against children at the continually intersecting and interacting levels of society, community, family, and the individual levels. We propose increased risk of armed conflict, forced displacement, poverty, income inequality, disruptions in critical health and social services, and mental health problems as key mechanisms linking the climate crisis and heightened risk of violence against children. Furthermore, we posit that the climate crisis serves as a threat multiplier, compounding existing vulnerabilities and inequities within populations and having harsher consequences in settings, communities, households, and for children already experiencing adversities. Conclusions: We conclude with a call for urgent efforts from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to further investigate the specific empirical links between the climate crisis and violence against children and to design, test, implement, fund, and scale evidence-based, rights-based, and child friendly prevention, support, and response strategies to address violence against children.
AB - Background: The climate crisis is the biggest threat to the health, development, and wellbeing of the current and future generations. While there is extensive evidence on the direct impacts of climate change on human livelihood, there is little evidence on how children and young people are affected, and even less discussion and evidence on how the climate crisis could affect violence against children. Participants and setting: In this commentary, we review selected research to assess the links between the climate crisis and violence against children. Methods: We employ a social-ecological perspective as an overarching framework to organize findings from the literature and call attention to increased violence against children as a specific, yet under-examined, direct and indirect consequence of the climate crisis. Results: Using such a perspective, we examine how the climate crisis exacerbates the risk of violence against children at the continually intersecting and interacting levels of society, community, family, and the individual levels. We propose increased risk of armed conflict, forced displacement, poverty, income inequality, disruptions in critical health and social services, and mental health problems as key mechanisms linking the climate crisis and heightened risk of violence against children. Furthermore, we posit that the climate crisis serves as a threat multiplier, compounding existing vulnerabilities and inequities within populations and having harsher consequences in settings, communities, households, and for children already experiencing adversities. Conclusions: We conclude with a call for urgent efforts from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to further investigate the specific empirical links between the climate crisis and violence against children and to design, test, implement, fund, and scale evidence-based, rights-based, and child friendly prevention, support, and response strategies to address violence against children.
KW - Climate change
KW - Climate crisis
KW - Social-ecological perspective
KW - Violence against children
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U2 - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106430
DO - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106430
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 37648573
AN - SCOPUS:85171174618
SN - 0145-2134
JO - Child Abuse and Neglect
JF - Child Abuse and Neglect
M1 - 106430
ER -