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UNICEF: One in Eight Girls and Women Sexually Assaulted Before Age 18

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. (United Nations)
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. (United Nations)
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UNICEF: One in Eight Girls and Women Sexually Assaulted Before Age 18

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. (United Nations)
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. (United Nations)

More than 370 million girls and women alive today, or one in every eight worldwide, experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, the United Nations children's agency said on Wednesday.
The number rises to 650 million, or one in five, when taking into account "non-contact" forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse, UNICEF reported, in what it called the first global survey of the problem.
The report said that while girls and women were worst affected, 240 to 310 million boys and men, or around 1 in 11, have experienced rape or sexual assault during childhood.
"The scale of this human rights violation is overwhelming, and it's been hard to fully grasp because of stigma, challenges in measurement, and limited investment in data collection," UNICEF said in releasing the report.
It comes ahead of an inaugural Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Colombia next month.
UNICEF said its findings highlight the urgent need for intensified global action, including by strengthening laws and helping children recognize and report sexual violence.
UNICEF said sexual violence cuts across geographical, cultural, and economic boundaries, but Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of victims, with 79 million girls and women, or 22 per cent affected. Eastern and South-Eastern Asia follow with 75 million, or 8 percent.
In its data for women and girls, UNICEF estimated 73 million, or 9 percent, were affected in Central and Southern Asia; 68 million, or 14 percent, in Europe and Northern America; 45 million, or 18 percent, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 29 million, or 15 per cent, in Northern Africa and Western Asia.
Oceania, with 6 million, had the highest number affected by percentage, at 34 per cent.
Risks were higher, rising to 1 in 4, in "fragile settings," including those with weak institutions, UN peacekeeping forces, or large numbers of refugees, the report found.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell called sexual violence against children "a stain on our moral conscience.”
"It inflicts deep and lasting trauma, often by someone the child knows and trusts, in places where they should feel safe."
UNICEF said most childhood sexual violence occurs during adolescence, especially between ages 14 and 17, and those who suffer it face higher risks of sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse and mental health issues.
"(T)he impact is further compounded when children delay disclosing their experiences ... or keep the abuse secret altogether," UNICEF said.
It said increased investment in data collection was needed to capture the full scale the problem, given persistent data gaps, particularly on boys’ experiences.
UNICEF said it based its estimates of girls' and women’s experiences on nationally representative surveys conducted between 2010 and 2022 in 120 countries and areas. It said estimates for boys and men were derived from a broader range of data sources and applied some indirect methods.

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Biden Signs Bill That Averts Govt Shutdown Ending Days of Washington Upheaval

United States President Joe Biden participates in a holiday visit to patients and families at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, USA, 20 December 2024. (EPA)
United States President Joe Biden participates in a holiday visit to patients and families at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, USA, 20 December 2024. (EPA)
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Biden Signs Bill That Averts Govt Shutdown Ending Days of Washington Upheaval

United States President Joe Biden participates in a holiday visit to patients and families at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, USA, 20 December 2024. (EPA)
United States President Joe Biden participates in a holiday visit to patients and families at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, USA, 20 December 2024. (EPA)

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law Saturday that averts a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline and refused President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands in the package.

The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government's borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures “start now.”

Johnson's revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Johnson, who had spoken to Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was "a good outcome for the country” and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who was calling the legislative plays from afar.

The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, leaving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker's gavel.

One House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about the GOP leadership. Others are signaling unhappiness with Johnson as well.

Yet Trump's last-minute debt limit demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around that pressure. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Rather than raise the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025.

There is no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can begin using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that America does not default on its debts. Some estimate these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be needed while he was president.

GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be debated as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demand. But it's far smaller than the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.