Is there evidence that the climate crisis is driving increased violence against children?
Academic research is only beginning to address climate-exacerbated violence against children, however a wealth of reports and professional experience within INGOs, CSOs and others paint a worrying picture, suggesting that the climate crisis may be increasing violence against children on a major scale.
It is well established that tragically children are at heightened risk of violence, trafficking, and exploitation during and post-disaster and in humanitarian settings[1]. Breakdown in government function and community oversight combined with desperate living conditions makes it easier to exploit children, with separated, orphaned, disabled and traumatised children particularly vulnerable.[2][3]
Impoverished and struggling families lose the little security they had, and in climate and humanitarian hotspots people may face overlapping and repeated crises, making recovery impossible. In this context they are forced to make desperate decisions with long term negative impacts on children, such as withdrawing them from school so they can work or arranging an early marriage.[4]
Sexual, domestic and family violence is especially high when families have lost everything and are forced to live in emergency accommodation.[5] Adolescent girls report high levels of sexual harassment and abuse in the aftermath of disasters, enabled by overcrowding in shelters, and lack of privacy, lighting and separate facilities for women and girls.[6]
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A review of the impacts of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 found greater involvement of Filipino children in hazardous labour, including children as young as nine who were required to work in place of deceased or injured relatives in sugar plantations. Sex trafficking had also increased, with children from rural areas targeted with false promises of education scholarships in larger cities. [7]
Growing evidence also shows links between slow-onset disasters such as drought and water shortage and violence against children.
In many communities, water collecting is done by women and children – particularly girls - with water scarcity making the task more difficult and hazardous. As they are forced to walk further and to more isolated areas, women and girls report being targeted for sexual assault, forced to have sex in exchange for access to water sources,[8] and being beaten for taking too long to collect water. [9]
For families dependent on the land, the loss of income caused by drought means that they cannot afford a nutritious diet, keep children in school, or pay for healthcare. To survive, families increasingly adopt negative coping strategies such as child marriage, leaving children unaccompanied while adults try to find work, and child labour that increases exposure to harm and violence.[10]
A study in Somalia found that children faced increased violence and exploitation as drought worsened. Parents were forced to leave the home in search of work or resources, leaving behind vulnerable children who reported rapes and beatings as they tried to collect firewood, look after livestock, or fetch water. Many children had to work to support family income and their school attendance declined. High levels of psychological distress among children were seen. [11]
An assessment of the effects of a major drought in India between 2015-2016 found numerous reports of child trafficking, with increased child labour in drought-affected villages. Parents and adolescents had often migrated in search of income, leaving children behind to care for younger siblings and earn a living. [12]
These findings are especially concerning considering the growing number of children impacted by climate-related humanitarian emergencies, projected to increase as the climate crisis worsens. Currently 400 million children - nearly one in six worldwide - are highly exposed to cyclones[13], and estimates suggest a billion people will be vulnerable to coastal flooding by 2050[14]. Meanwhile, around 920 million children are already highly exposed to water scarcity[15], and by 2040 around 1 in 4 children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.[16]
There is also growing evidence that some of the major impacts of the climate crisis, such as population displacement and migration, food scarcity and conflict are increasing violence against children.
Displacement and migration
Since 2008, an average of 22 million people each year have been internally displaced by weather-related disasters.[17] 162 million people are currently at risk of displacement because of sea-level rise,[18] and up to 700 million people in Africa may be displaced by drought alone by 2030.[19]
Children are particularly vulnerable during population displacements, and even more so if they are orphaned or separated from their families. They often have limited or no access to essential services including education, protection, and health care, and are exposed to violence, exploitation, and trafficking.[20]
Parents report severe stress and fear during displacement. Living conditions are very difficult, they have little access to necessary resources, and often cannot provide for children’s needs. They also struggle to care for children while dealing with their own trauma. In this context rates of domestic violence, violent punishment, and physical and emotional abuse of children increase.[21]
In the Caribbean, 3.4 million people, including 761,000 children, were internally displaced between 2014 and 2018 by a series of catastrophic tropical cyclones - more than six times as many in the preceding five-year period. A review of the impacts found that girls were at heightened risk of dropping out of school and being forced into trafficking, marriages, sexual exploitation, and abuse.[22]
In Somaliland youth migration has become so prevalent as to be regarded as a national disaster, with devastating drought the primary reason for movement from rural to urban areas, or towards European or Gulf states. Migration is facilitated by smugglers, and children endure harsh conditions, often without food and water, travelling long distances by foot or by crowded cars and boats. Migrating children are often poor, undocumented, and unable to access education or other services, and likely to be victims of violent crime, including sexual violence, abuse, and exploitation. They may be held for ransom, beaten, and abused. Researchers heard reports that in the context of the drought Somali girls aged four to twelve years were taken to Ethiopia to work as domestic servants, while girls older than twelve were targeted for sex trafficking.[23]
Food scarcity
Climate change is threatening global food supply, whereby yield in staple crops is declining, within a context of increasing demand.[24] Up to 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021, including 45 million children under the age of five suffering from wasting.[25]
Food crises cause population displacement, increase community and family stress, and can lead families to adopt negative coping strategies. Rising food prices are thought to be one of the main causes of extreme impoverishment in Sub-Saharan Africa.[26]
Researchers have found that prenatal and early childhood malnourishment is associated with aggression and violence. Considering the potential scale of food insecurity, Plante and Anderson[27] argue that its effects on aggression in society should not be underestimated.
A 2008 spike in food prices in Nigeria led to the withdrawal of children, particularly girls, from school, so they could support family income by engaging in hazardous and exploitative child labour. Although initially undertaken as a short-term measure, many children never returned to school, with devastating long-term effects on their well-being. [28]
Climate change is recognised as a threat multiplier for conflict[29], particularly in areas of resource scarcity,[30] in fragile states,[31] and where households are most dependent on natural resources.[32] Climate impacts, competition over natural resources and fossil fuels are factors in several of the current major global conflicts.
As well as the inherent dangers and harm of conflict for children, violence can become normalised in a conflict context. Sexual assault is common[33] especially for girls, while boys are more likely to face injury or death, abduction, and recruitment to armed groups, and children with disabilities may suffer high levels of neglect and abandonment.[34] Increased rates of sexual exploitation and slavery, and forced marriage and labour are also seen.[35] In conflict settings the education, health, protection, and other services upon which children depend may also break down or become inaccessible, despite heightened need.[36]
There is also strong evidence that climate change is exacerbating particular forms of violence and harm against children, including child labour, child marriage and FGM/C, parental violence, wider gender-based violence and emotional harm.
Child Labour
After a 20-year decline, rates of child labour are again rising, largely due to increases among 5–11-year-olds in Sub-Saharan Africa, caused by growing poverty where climate impacts are a key factor. Hazardous child labour is both a form of violence against children, and increases the likelihood of other forms of maltreatment, including corporal punishment, psychological and sexual abuse, and exploitation, and is often accompanied by loss of education.[37]
Farming households are particularly affected by climate impacts. When faced with a drop in income children may be withdrawn from school so they can work and help the family survive the crisis.[38] Environmental degradation is an increasingly common factor in parents’ decision to engage children in work.[39]
Child labour often increases after climate disasters. Flooding and landslides in Rautahat district, Nepal in 2017 affected 1.7 million people. As communities struggled to survive, local community workers noticed an increase in child labour, particularly in brick kilns and agriculture. Children had been offered high-interest loans in exchange for work but since they could not repay the money they became trapped in debt bondage.[40]
Child marriage and FGM/C
Growing evidence finds a correlation between high rates of child marriage and climate change across many countries.[41] Among multiple factors, poverty is a chief determinant and early marriage can be understood as a negative coping strategy to livelihood insecurity.
Bangladesh is at extremely high risk from climate impacts,[4 2] with high levels of severe poverty,[43] and early marriage.[44] Carrico et al report that when Bangladeshi families face environmental shocks, they cope by accelerating the marriage of daughters or accepting less desirable marriage proposals. In the context of scarcity, and underpinned by unequal gender norms, child marriage is seen as a way of securing the future of a daughter they can neither feed, educate nor protect.[45]
UNICEF report that in the context of the drought and food crisis in the Horn of Africa, parents are marrying off girls as young as twelve with much older men to secure dowries to help support the rest of the family, to have one less mouth to feed, or to help the girl enter a more affluent household. Accurate data is difficult to obtain, but they estimate child marriage has doubled in the worst affected areas, accompanied by a 27% increase in FGM, seen as a pre-requisite for marriage. The crisis has also driven away community and social workers who were previously working to protect girls from child marriage and FGM.[46]
Parent and caregiver violence
The direct and indirect impacts of the climate crises can cause or worsen parental fear, stress, and depression, thereby increasing the likelihood of violent punishment and child abuse.[47] Caregiver violence has been found to intensify in and following disasters,[48] heatwaves[49] and population displacement.[50]
The burden on mothers in coping with crises, particularly due to their greater share of caring and providing responsibilities, can result in extreme maternal stress, deterioration of mental health, frustration and anxiety, and increased experience of domestic violence and household conflict. This in turn contributes to increased levels of maternal violence towards children. [51]
Connections with gender-based violence
Violence against children and gender-based violence (GBV) are closely associated, often co-occurring, [52] and girls are doubly impacted. A recent systematic review found that experience of GBV during and after extreme weather events is common in most contexts, [53] with early marriage, FGM, intimate partner violence, dowry violence, controlling behaviour, witch killings, teen dating violence and harassment all observed. Another international review found numerous connections between GBV and environmental factors, with particularly common use of GBV to control access to natural resources. [54]
Data suggests that sexual violence against men and boys in humanitarian settings could be much more prevalent than previously recognised, but gender norms prevent survivors from reporting incidents or using services, and programming tends to prioritise girls and women. Where sexual violence against men and boys goes unaddressed, there is a risk that survivors adopt negative behaviours, which can include domestic abuse and further perpetration of violence. [55]
Mental health and emotional harm
Finally, there is growing evidence that the climate crisis is causing children considerable emotional harm, both in their direct exposure to climate disasters, displacement, and disruption, [56] and in their witnessing of the climate crisis and lack of adequate action on it. [57] In the first global quantitative study of 10,000 children and young people from ten countries across different regions, 60% of all children surveyed were very or extremely worried, with the highest rates in countries most directly impacted by climate change, but nowhere lower than 44%. [58]
Although the emotional harm suffered by children because of the climate crisis may not fit within a usual understanding of emotional abuse, some authors have commented that the failure of governments to adequately address climate change and its impact on younger generations may amount to cruel, inhuman, degrading, or even torturous treatment. Given the number of children experiencing psychological distress, the length of time they will endure it, and the burden on their and future generations, Hickman et al argue that the climate crisis could be understood as an act of psychological violence against children. [59]
Footnotes:
[1] UNICEF, 2011. Children and Climate Change: Children’s Vulnerability to Climate Change and Disaster Impacts in East Asia and the Pacific., Bangkok: UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office.
[2] USAID, 2006. Literature Review: Trafficking In Humanitarian Emergencies. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADK469.pdf
[3] International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 2019. The Checklist on Law and Disaster Preparedness and Response. IFRC Documents. https://disasterlaw.ifrc.org/media/1287
[4] Kousky, C., 2016. Impacts of natural disasters on children. The Future of children, pp.73-92.
[5] Khan Foundation & ARROW, 2015. A Scoping Study. Women’s Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Climate Change: What is the Connection? Dhaka, Bangladesh: Abdul Momen Khan Memorial Foundation (Khan Foundation)
[6] Bartlett, S., 2008. Climate change and urban children: impacts and implications for adaptation in low-and middle-income countries. Environment and Urbanization, 20(2), pp.501-519.
[7] Tesfay, N., 2015. Impact of livelihood recovery initiatives on reducing vulnerability to human trafficking and illegal recruitment. International Labour Organisation. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/1207255/impact-of-livelihood-recovery-initiatives-on-reducing-vulnerability-to-human-trafficking-and-illegal-recruitment/1760361/
[8] Pommells, M., Schuster-Wallace, C., Watt, S. and Mulawa, Z., 2018. Gender violence as a water, sanitation, and hygiene risk: Uncovering violence against women and girls as it pertains to poor WaSH access. Violence against women, 24(15), pp.1851-1862.
[9] Devonald, M., Jones, N. and Yadete, W., 2020. The first thing that I fear for my future is lack of rain and drought’: Climate change and its impacts on adolescent capabilities in low-and middle-income countries. Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence: London, UK.
[10] Hallegatte, S., Bangalore, M., Bonzanigo, L., Fay, M., Kane, T., Narloch, U., Rozenberg, J., Treguer, D. and Vogt-Schilb, A.., 2016. Shock waves: managing the impacts of climate change on poverty. World Bank Publications.
[11] Save the Children, 2017. Children face increased violence and exploitation. https://somalia.savethechildren.net/content/children-face-increased-violence-and-exploitation
[12] UNICEF, 2016. When Coping Crumbles: A Rapid Assessment of the Impact of Drought on Children and Women in India. New Delhi: UNICEF India Country Office.
[13] UNICEF, 2021. The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children's Climate Risk Index. UNICEF.
[14] IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press.
[15] UNICEF, 2021. The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children's Climate Risk Index. UNICEF.
[16] https://www.unicef.org/wash/water-scarcity
[17] Hubble-Rose, L., Quiggin, D., Froggatt, A. and De Meyer, K., 2021. Climate change risk assessment 2021. Chatham House.
[18] Levy, B.S., Sidel, V.W. and Patz, J.A., 2017. Climate change and collective violence. Annual Review of Public Health, 38, p.241.
[19] IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press.
[20] UNICEF, 2019. Children uprooted in the Caribbean. UNICEF Child Alert, UNICEF, New York. https://www.unicef.org/child-alert/children-uprooted-caribbean
[21] Peek, L. and Stough, L.M., 2010. Children with disabilities in the context of disaster: A social vulnerability perspective. Child development, 81(4), pp.1260-1270.
[22] UNICEF, 2019. Children uprooted in the Caribbean. UNICEF Child Alert, UNICEF, New York. https://www.unicef.org/child-alert/children-uprooted-caribbean
[23] Bueno, O., 2019. “No Mother Wants Her Child to Migrate” Vulnerability of Children on the Move in the Horn of Africa (No. inorer1041).
[24] https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/worlds-food-supply-made-insecure-climate-change
[25] FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2022. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable. Rome, FAO.
[26] UNICEF, 2021a. The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children's Climate Risk Index. UNICEF.
[27] Plante, C. and Anderson, C.A., 2017. Global warming and violent behavior. APS Observer, 30.
[28] Chiripanhura, B.M. and Niño‐Zarazúa, M., 2016. The impacts of the food, fuel and financial crises on poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria: A retrospective approach to research inquiry. Development Policy Review, 34(6), pp.763-788.
[29] United Nations (UN), 2019. ‘Climate change recognized as “threat multiplier”, UN Security Council debates its impact on peace’. United Nations, 25 January. https://news.un.org/en/ story/2019/01/1031322
[30] Peters, K., Dupar, M., Opitz-Stapleton, S., Lovell, E., Budimir, M., Brown, S. and Cao, Y., 2020. Climate change, conflict and fragility: an evidence review and recommendations for research and action.
[31] SIDA, 2018. Climate change and conflict risks – what do we know, what should we do? A summary of a Sida working paper on the interlinkages. SIDA. https://cdn.sida.se/app/uploads/2020/12/01110655/information-brief-climate-change-and-conflict.pdf
[32] Devonald, M., Jones, N. and Yadete, W., 2020. The first thing that I fear for my future is lack of rain and drought’: Climate change and its impacts on adolescent capabilities in low-and middle-income countries. Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence: London, UK.
[33] Nordås, R. and Cohen, D.K., 2021. Conflict-related sexual violence. Annual Review of Political Science, 24, pp.193-211.
[34] Save the Children, 2021 Born into The Climate Crisis - Why we must act now to secure children’s rights https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/born-climate-crisis-why-we-must-act-now-secure-childrens-rights/?_ga=2.128240847.2104273171.1660168142-855161816.1656266052
[35] United Nations Security Council (UNSC), 2022. Conflict-related sexual violence: Report of the Secretary-General, 29 March 2022, S/2022/272
[36] Save the Children, 2021 Born into The Climate Crisis - Why we must act now to secure children’s rights https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/born-climate-crisis-why-we-must-act-now-secure-childrens-rights/?_ga=2.128240847.2104273171.1660168142-855161816.1656266052
[37] International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF, 2021. Child Labour: Global Estimates 2020, Trends and the Road Forward. ILO and UNICEF.
[38] Boutin, D., 2014. Climate vulnerability, communities' resilience and child labour. Revue d'économie politique, 124(4), pp.625-638.
[39] Terre des Hommes, 2017. The Neglected Link: Effects of climate change and environmental degradation on child labour (Child labour report, 2017). https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/neglected-link-effects-climate-change-and-environmental-degradation-child-labour-child/
[40] Islamic Relief Worldwide, 2020. Hidden in Plain Sight – A study of child labour and human trafficking in Rautahat, Nepal https://jliflc.com/resources/hidden-in-plain-sight-a-study-of-child-labour-and-human-trafficking-in-rautahat-nepal/
[41] McLeod, C., Barr, H. and Rall, K., 2019. Does climate change increase the risk of child marriage: A look at what we know-and what we don't-with lessons from Bangladesh and Mozambique. Colum. J. Gender & L., 38, p.96.
[42] USAID, 2018. Climate change risk profile Bangladesh. Fact Sheet. Washington: USAID. www.climatelinks.org/sites/default/files/asset/document/2018-02-Mar_CadmusCISF_Climate-Risk-Profile-Bangladesh.pdf
[43] Asian Development Bank, 2017, last updated 2022. Basic Statistics 2022. Asian Development Bank/ ERCD. https://data.adb.org/dataset/basic-statistics-asia-and-pacific
[44] NIPORT, I., 2020. Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2017-18. Dhaka and Maryland.
[45] Carrico, A.R., Donato, K.M., Best, K.B. and Gilligan, J., 2020. Extreme weather and marriage among girls and women in Bangladesh. Global Environmental Change, 65, p.102160.
[46] UNICEF, 2022. Child marriage on the rise in Horn of Africa as drought crisis intensifies https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/child-marriage-rise-horn-africa-drought-crisis-intensifies
[47] Pereznieto, P., Rivett, J., Le Masson, V., George, R. and Marcus, R., 2020. Ending violence against children while addressing the global climate crisis. Overseas Development Institute.
[48] Kousky, C., 2016. Impacts of natural disasters on children. The Future of children, pp.73-92.
[49] Gruenberg, B.C., Brown, R.D., Anderson, M.P. and Bogie, A.L., 2019. The link between temperature and child abuse. Trauma and Emergency Care, 4(2), pp.1-5.
[50] Peek, L. and Stough, L.M., 2010. Children with disabilities in the context of disaster: A social vulnerability perspective. Child development, 81(4), pp.1260-1270.
[51] Bartlett, S., 2008. Climate change and urban children: impacts and implications for adaptation in low-and middle-income countries. Environment and Urbanization, 20(2), pp.501-519.
[52] Bott S, Ruiz-Celis AP, Mendoza JA, et al., 2021. Co-occurring violent discipline of children and intimate partner violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean: a systematic search and secondary analysis of national datasets. BMJ Global Health
[53] Van Daalen, K.R., Kallesøe, S.S., Davey, F., Dada, S., Jung, L., Singh, L., Issa, R., Emilian, C.A., Kuhn, I., Keygnaert, I. and Nilsson, M., 2022. Extreme events and gender-based violence: a mixed-methods systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(6), pp.e504-e523.
[54] Camey, I., Sabater, L., Owren, C., Boyer, A. and Wen, J., 2020. Gender-based violence and environment linkages. The Violence of Inequality; Wen, J., Ed.; IUCN: Gland, Switzerland.
[55] UNHCR., 2012. Working with men and boy survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in forced displacement. Geneva: UNHCR.
[56] Burke, S.E., Sanson, A.V. and Van Hoorn, J., 2018. The psychological effects of climate change on children. Current psychiatry reports, 20(5), pp.1-8.
[57] Strife, S.J., 2012. Children's environmental concerns: Expressing ecophobia. The Journal of Environmental Education, 43(1), pp.37-54.
[58] Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R.E., Mayall, E.E., Wray, B., Mellor, C. and van Susteren, L., 2021. Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), pp.e863-e873.
[59] Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R.E., Mayall, E.E., Wray, B., Mellor, C. and van Susteren, L., 2021. Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), pp.e863-e873.