More than one billion children around the world suffer from violence. Just let that sink in. It's a staggering, sickening figure – and one that I believe breaks the heart of God.
Exactly 30 years since the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child was signed, children are still experiencing unimaginable suffering both in the UK and around the world. They are being exploited in sweatshops, sexually abused, forced to pick up a gun and fight, and fleeing from bombs. For millions around the world this is a daily, terrifying reality.
It's ripping childhoods apart.
At World Vision, our global campaign – It Takes A World – aims to see an end to this violence. We believe every child matters. Every child, no matter where they live, deserves to live freely, and without fear. And as the world celebrates International Children's Day today, we know that this is possible.
In partnership with Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and Columbia University in New York, we're researching the impact of engaging with faith communities, and how it can help end violence against children.
Since 2016, we've been analysing the strategic role faith leaders can play in strengthening protection for boys and girls.
And the results so far are eye-opening. We're uncovering further evidence that faith leaders, their spouses and their communities are often powerful agents of change.
In Senegal, child marriage is rife. Almost a third of girls are married before their 18th birthday. Almost one in 10 are married before the age of 15. Early marriage can have devastating physical and psychological consequences for girls. Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death globally among girls aged 15-19, while marrying young also often forces them to give up their education – severely limiting their options for the future.
Our workshops with Christian and Muslim faith leaders in Senegal are seeing attitudes to child marriage change dramatically. We've seen the number of people with harmful views on the issue nearly halved. At the beginning of our programme, 46 per cent of respondents agreed they would rather marry their daughter off young than see her fall pregnant before marriage. A year later, just 24 per cent still held this view.
And momentum is growing. Faith leaders we're working with have in turn engaged with others in their community on child protection issues – helping to spread positive messages and create a better, safer environment for kids. Their trusted position lends weight to these messages, allowing us to reach communities that may otherwise be forgotten.
In Uganda, children themselves are reporting that their communities are becoming safer. They say that following World Vision's work with faith leaders, cases of child sacrifice – a terrible, deadly ritual – are falling, while more kids are able to go to school rather than being married off or being sent to work in dangerous conditions. Lives are being changed.
These are wonderful, positive moves in the right direction. And yet we are just scratching the surface of what faith leaders can do to end violence against children in local communities. There is still much more to learn.
And faith leaders here in the UK could no doubt benefit from what we're seeing. I'd challenge them to follow in the footsteps of their overseas counterparts, using their positions of influence to address issues of violence here in the UK, too.
As a Christian organisation, we're committed to being on the ground for the long-term, in some of the most difficult places to live. Whether that's communities oppressed by poverty or conflict, we know that God cares for them, and it's our passion to reveal to them that love. We will continue to work with churches, faith communities and faith leaders to bring transformation to their communities. This is just the beginning.
To join us in praying for our work around the world, please go to www.worldvision.org.uk/pray2019
Tim Pilkington is CEO of World Vision UK.
