In Peru, violence is considered a major public health concern. In the last 20 years, there have beens ignificant efforts to prevent, punish and eradicate violence, particularly in the case of violence against women. Nevertheless, the prevalence of violence against children in Peru remains very high (around 30 per cent).
The paper has been commissioned as part of the UNICEF Multi-Country Study on the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children in Italy, Peru, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe. The Multi-Country Study is analysing how factors at the individual, inter-personal, community, institutional and structural levels interact to shape everyday violence in children’s homes. It uses the socio-ecological model to
explore the complexities of violence affecting children in order to help communities develop more effective national strategies for violence prevention.
This paper focuses on children’s accounts oftheir experiences of violence at home, and explores drivers of violence at the individual,
interpersonal and community level. In line with international definitions, the authors analyse the occurrence of three forms of violence enacted by parents on children: physical violence (the intentional use of physical force against a child that either results in or has the potential to harm the child’s health, survival, development or dignity); mental or psychological violence (not providing an appropriate and supportive environment for the child, including acts that can be detrimental to a child’s psychological development, emotional health and well-being); and neglect or negligent treatment (the failure to meet children’s physical and psychological needs, protect them from danger or obtain medical, birth registration or other services when those responsible for their care have the means, knowledge and access to services to do so).