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Summary: Statement delivered by the Regional Representative for North America to the NGO Advisory Council for follow up to the UN Study on Violence Against Children at the 62nd session of the General Assembly on 19 October 2007.
North America: Katherine Covell Good afternoon your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Katherine Covell and I am here supporting the call for a Special Representative on behalf of the 110 NGOs from Canada and the United States who have signed our petition. In North America, children are more likely to experience violence in their family than in any other setting. In the family, children are disproportionately the victims of all forms of abuse and neglect - - shaken baby syndrome, physical abuse, exposure to parental violence, sexual abuse, and even homicide. In fact, the chance of being a victim of family homicide is greatest in the first year of life. Violence in the family is the major risk factor for the behavioral and emotional disorders that prevent the positive development of the child, and that promote the intergenerational transmission of violence. The intergenerational transmission of violence can be reduced significantly with We must reduce family poverty and thereby the stress on families. We must provide family supports and parenting education– including drug and alcohol addiction services to parents. And we must ban the use of corporal punishment. Corporal punishment is the single biggest risk factor for child abuse and for child violence. And we must listen to the children – they are acutely aware of the pervasiveness of violence in their families, and they want the cycle of violence to stop with them. I end my statement with the words of one Canadian child victim of family violence: a child living on the streets of a major Canadian city. “You were not there to protect me as a child and I’ll live with that damage for the rest of my life. But I vow as a young person in this society, to put an end to this violence for the next generation. You can stand with me or you can turn your back.” Please -- Let us stand with Maya and all child victims of family violence. Thank you. Further information
appropriate laws, policies, and practices that address the underlying causes of the high rates of family violence we see in North America.