Every second, three girls experience sexual violence. One in five girls will face sexual violence before she turns 18. Experiencing sexual violence in childhood has lasting physical, mental, educational, and economic consequences that carry into womanhood.
School-related gender-based violence is a particularly egregious form of gender-based violence because it happens to children who sometimes do not even recognise it as violence.
On September 21, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) launched an historic global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) – the Spotlight Initiative.