Bern, Switzerland [Children Ministries Dep.; CD EUDNews]. Child abuse is a worldwide epidemic. Whether you are in America, England, Australia, Europe, India, China, Thailand or Africa, there is no exception. The plight of children is overwhelming. From violence, to trafficking and child labour, to pornography, prostitution and sexual abuse. The statistics are growing and their stories are becoming more painful.
Child abuse can occur in many forms. It can be physically abusive behaviour such as punching, kicking, burning, shaking or slapping.Abuse can be in the form of maltreatment, when behaviour towards the child goes outside of normal conduct and there is substantial risk of causing harm.A prevalent type of abuse worldwide is sexual abuse: when a child is taken advantage of in a sexual manner or used in pornography and prostitution. Another form of abuse is neglect. When the caregiver fails to provide for a child's basic physical needs. This can include inadequate food, shelter, clothing, hygiene and supervision.
Psychological abuse is also very harmful. This can involve not providing adequate nurture and emotional support. It can involve actions such as verbal abuse, rejection, isolation or belittlement. It can also involve the child being exposed to violence, especially within the family context. Bullying is a serious problem that is on the increase. There are three main types of bullying: emotional, verbal, and physical. Children who are bullied are 9 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts. An estimated 200 million children, as young as three years of age, and youth around the world are bullied by their peers (2007 Kandersteg Declaration Against Bullying in Children and Youth).
The Seven Campaign is a global awareness campaign to advocate for an end to the abuse of children around the world. The Seven Campaign seeks to mobilize people around the world to join a global grassroots movement to help children in their own communities.
The plan is to make a difference today:The Seven Campaign is calling you to take the most important stand to raise awareness about the pandemic of child abuse. The campaign partners have prepared free resources for you to use and share within your community.By joining the Seven Campaign you can raise awareness on the need to create safe communities to protect the vulnerability and innocence of all children.
"We ask for your support for this very important initiative. Please help us to protect our children", so Elsa Cupertino Cozzi, Children Ministries Director in the EUD. "Protecting children should be one of our great priorities, as it was for Jesus Christ during His life on planet earth. Let us defeat together child abuse!" The Seven Campaign is strongly supported by Children's and Women's Ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Inter-European Region.
To learn more, visit the web site: http://www.thesevencampaign.com/
(picture: Elsa Cupertino Cozzi)