Expert and Thematic meetings and consultations provided an opportunity to share expertise from all regions of the world, to discuss issues and priorities, and to identify the most effective and practical approaches for the elimination of violence against children. A number of expert consultations were held for the Study. (To read the reports of the expert consultation meetings, see the table below.)

Methods meeting
The Study Secretariat, with support from WHO, organised a meeting on data collection on violence against children on 18 May in Geneva. Representatives from various agencies engaged with the Study met to review methods and output from new and existing data analysis undertaken in the context of the Study, and to provide input on the recommendations of the Study specific to data collection.

Violence against the girl child
The theme of the African Child Policy Forum’s second international policy conference on the African Child was ‘Violence Against Girls in Africa’. The conference took place in Ethiopia from 11-12 May. The meeting emphasised the impact of entrenched gender roles on virtually all forms of violence. The Independent Expert presented in plenary on the Study and also met with child participants from the African region. The meeting resulted in the ‘African Declaration on Violence Against Girls’. The meeting also agreed to use the Day of the African Child on 16 June to promote support for the prevention of violence against children, and to include this as an item on the agenda of the African Union. This high-level meeting was attended by representatives from government and NGOs from all over Africa.

Faith-based organisations
Representatives of various religious communities gathered in Spain from 9-11 May 2006 to discuss violence that affects children. The representatives offered their support to mobilizing the international community - through the United Nations Study on Violence against Children - to address violence against children, and they committed to work in partnership with governments, UN agencies, and other civil society actors to implement the recommendations of the Study. At the end of the meeting a ‘declaration on religious commitment to confront violence against children’ was adopted.

Violence against refugee and other displaced children

Photo: UNHCR/J.Ose/July 15, 2006.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) / voluntary rapatriation from the Republic of Congo (ROC) / Rubain Ndawo gets off a truck to be reunited with his relatives at his home village of Mawuya, DRC / He spent 5 years in the Republic of Congo after escaping the violence during the conflict in 2000 in the Equatour Province of DRC.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the UN Study on Violence Against Children organised a one-day thematic consultation on violence against refugee children and other displaced children on Tuesday 25 April 2006 in Geneva. The purpose of the meeting was to describe the types of violence that refugee and other displaced children are particularly at risk of experiencing; and to suggest specific input to the Study which is related to what is currently being done to prevent and respond to violence against refugee and other displaced children, as well as what should and could be done by the different duty bearers.

Criminal justice responses to violence against children
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organised an expert group meeting on ‘Criminal Justice Responses to Violence Against Children: Best Practices and Innovative Solutions’. The meeting was held 18-19 April 2006 in Vienna. The experts discussed strategies to ensure that the judicial and security systems respond adequately to cases of violence against children, consolidating the need to protect child victims of additional harm and the need for due process of law.

Children with disabilities
UNICEF and Yale University organised an expert thematic meeting on disabilities on 28 July in New York. The objective of the meeting was to come up with key issues for the recommendations of the Study. Participants at the meeting looked at the settings of the Study and identified types of violence affecting children with disabilities, examining which were the most common types, the most severe types and the most under-reported and how these can be prevented and addressed. The expert meeting coincided with a meeting on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and took advantage of the presence of experts in New York at that time.

Home and Family
The World Health Organization convened an Expert Thematic Meeting on Violence Against Children in the Home and Family on 20 and 21 June 2005 in Geneva. The aim of the consultation was to debate and propose a set of recommendations for addressing violence against children in that context. Participants stressed the need to improve the collection of information on violence against children in the family, to strengthen prevention measures, to improve services for children and families experiencing violence, and to develop ethical and safety guidelines to guide researchers. In addition, various preventive measures were discussed.

Virtual settings
ECPAT organised an expert meeting on violence against children in cyberspace, virtual settings and through new technologies in Bangkok, Thailand, on 12-13 June 2005. The experts who participated in the meeting discussed various forms of violence against children in these virtual settings, including sexual abuse and exploitation, bullying and psychological manipulation and came up with recommendations on how to protect children.

Violence in Schools
A second meeting in Nairobi (10-11 May 2005) on violence and schools discussed the main forms of violence, including verbal abuse, gender-based violence and violence perpetrated by teachers and other staff, bullying, gang violence and drug trafficking. This meeting also reviewed an outline of the chapter on schools for the final report.

Violence in Schools
From 14 to 16 April 2005 in Tunis, a thematic meeting was held on schools and education settings. Research from seven countries in the Middle East and North Africa indicated that violence in schools can be a factor in limiting access to school and impeding school retention and learning. An interactive Internet forum in the Middle East and North Africa was held simultaneously to gather opinions of young people.

Data collection on Violence Against Women
The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Europe and the World Health Organization, convened an expert group meeting on data collection on Violence against Women (Geneva, 11-14 April 2005). The expert group meeting assessed and evaluated statistics currently available regarding the extent and prevalence of all forms of violence against women and identified remaining gaps in data collection. The meeting provided an opportunity for producers and users of data to discuss the needs of policymakers and advocates for better information, and the constraints and challenges in meeting these needs.

Children in conflict with the law
The NGO Advisory Panel for the Study held a thematic meeting on violence against children in conflict with the law on 4 and 5 April 2005 in Geneva. Participants stressed that detention should be a last resort, and only when all other forms of diversion, education and other alternatives have failed. A number of recommendations were adopted on alternatives to detention and on measures to ensure that children are not subject to violence within the juvenile justice system. Strategies for the implementation of the recommendations were identified by the participants particularly in terms of international mechanisms and responsibilities of Governments.

Gender-based violence
On 17 and 18 March 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa gender-based violence was the focus across three themes: sexual exploitation and humanitarian crises; sexual violence and violence in non-emergency situations; and HIV/AIDS. Issues facing children in conflict with the law were also discussed at this meeting.

Research and global estimates on violence against children
The UNICEF Innocenti Research Center organised a meeting on research and global estimates on violence against children in Florence, Italy, on 10-11 February 2005. Participants talked about the challenges to confront in the derivation of estimates of violence against children and discussed how data from studies and research that have already been completed, or very soon will be completed, can be used.