Violence against children (VAC) is a global human rights problem that violates children's right to freedom from violence and it negatively impacts the development, health, wellbeing, and survival of children and in the long run undermines developmental goals of society. In the 21st century the commitment to uphold these rights through policies and programmes are more explicit in global and national partnerships for development than in the past. Governments with their development partners have the obligation to promote respect for and protect children's right to violence-free existence by ensuring that children grow up in safe, secure, and nurturing family and public environments. South Africa has high levels of violence including VAC and the country requires urgent actions that include monitoring progress in the implementation of laws and generation of evidence on the state of VAC. In addition, monitoring the effects of laws, policies and programmes implemented to reduce VAC is a necessary practice to measure progress made towards ending violence and identifying any gaps. This requires paying attention to all forms of violence that affect all children, their risk factors, fatal and non-fatal consequences, social relationships, and changing contexts that present threats to children's safety as well as protective factors.
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.