Chapter 13: Human Rights Violations Against Children: An Inquiry-Based Simulation for High School Students

Violence against children is an inescapable fact within contemporary global society. Every day, children around the world are vulnerable to mental and physical trauma in direct violation of their human rights. Children are vulnerable to a loss of dignity or life when they are victims of physical or mental abuse, gang violence, child labor, human trafficking, or when they are forced to fight wars on behalf of adults (Youth for Human Rights International, 2016). Adults are frequently the architects of violent acts against children when they perpetuate patterns of psychological and physical violence. Children who are victims of violence are likely to repeat these patterns into adulthood (UNICEF, 2014; World Health Organization, 2007). International legislation adopted by the United Nations prohibits depriving children of human rights. However, because children lack relative power in most societies, they are at an increased risk of being robbed of their childhood innocence by becoming victims of human-created conflicts and social injustices.