Research commissioned by UNICEF has found that child maltreatment is costing countries in East Asia and the Pacific US $209 billion per year, equivalent to 2 percent of the region’s GDP. This includes emotional abuse ($65.9 bn), physical abuse ($39.6 bn) sexual abuse ($39.9 bn) neglect ($32.4 bn), witnessing domestic violence ($31 bn) and death from maltreatment ($0.5 bn). Violence against children is fundamentally wrong and is a tragedy for every child affected. In addition to the moral case for action, this research shows that there is also an impact on health and human capital, and an economic cost. This is first ever costing of child maltreatment in the Asia-Pacific region. The research began in 2012 with the systematic review of existing regional research, followed by a report, Violence against Children (Fang et. al, 2014), and peer-reviewed journal article ‘The burden of child maltreatment in the East Asia and Pacific region’ in Child Abuse & Neglect (Fang et. al, 2015).
