VOA常速英语2015--努力结束针对儿童暴力

努力结束针对儿童暴力

Two rights groups said violence affects about one billion children every year and its consequences cost economies seven trillion dollars annually 1. The NGOs said while violence against women and girls has gained more attention, violence against boys has not. It’s a leading cause of death for adolescent boys in many parts of the world.

两个权利组织称每年大约有10亿儿童遭受暴力，其后果导致每年经济损失7万亿美元。这两家非盈利组织称尽管针对妇女和女孩的暴力得到更多关注，人们却很少关注针对男孩的暴力，这也是世界很多地方青少年男孩死亡的主要原因。

The groups Without Violence and Together for Girls said violence against children is a major challenge to development. They say that “continued exposure to violence – whether as a victim or a witness – has significant detrimental 2 effects on a child’s brain.” Those effects include post-traumatic stress leading to social, emotional and behavioral problems.

“结束暴力”和“女孩在一起”组织称针对儿童的暴力是发展的主要挑战，称“持续地接触暴力”，无论是作为受害者还是作为目击者，都会对儿童的大脑构成伤害。这些影响包括创伤后压力，能导致社会、情绪和行为问题。

Lisa Witter is executive director of Without Violence or as she describes herself, the group’s “chief optimist 3.”

丽萨·威特是“结束暴力”组织的执行理事，或者正如她自己所说，是该组织的“首席乐观主义者”。

She said, “Violence against children is an issue that happens all around the world – in every country, in every income level of the home and whether the parents are educated or not. And violence against children happens everywhere. We’ve learned in talking about the issue of violence that different people have definitions about what violence against children is. Is it mental abuse? Is it physical abuse? Is it corporal punishment? Is it war? It’s all of it. We’re really looking at reducing violence in any setting and in any way against children.”

她说，“针对儿童的暴力在全世界都是个问题，在每个国家、各个收入水平的家庭，无论父母受过教育与否都是如此。到处都有针对儿童的暴力，通过谈论暴力问题，我们不同的人谈论针对儿童暴力的定义，是心理虐待吗？是身体虐待吗？是体罚吗？还是战争？这些全都是，我们正设法减少各种情况下、各种针对儿童的暴力。”

Witter said girls are especially vulnerable to sexual violence and child marriage, which she also considers a form of violence.

威特说女孩尤其容易受到性暴力和童婚的伤害，她认为这都属于暴力。

“Girls are much more likely to be married under the age of 18 than boys. And this is a real violent act. It’s not under her own will and they should be girls, not brides.”

“与男孩相比，女孩更容易在18岁之前结婚，这是一种真正的暴力行为，不是随她们自己的心愿，她们应该做女孩，而不是新娘。”

As for boys, she said, “One in five victims of homicide are children and boys account for 70 percent of them. Real, harsh violence is really a big issue for boys. Sexual violence, as I said, is a big issue for girls, but 73 million boys under the age of 18 experience sexual violence. So while girls are at a higher risk factor for it, it’s a boys’ issue. And then the other issue we think a lot about are child soldiers. There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world and 90 percent of them are boys.”

对于男孩，她说，“有五分之一的杀人案受害者是儿童，男孩占到其中的70%，残酷的暴力对男孩来说是个大问题。正如我所说，性暴力对女孩来说是个大问题，但18岁以下的男孩中有7300万人经历过性暴力。所以尽管女孩很容易遭到侵害，男孩也一样。我们谈的多的另一个问题是童子军，估计全世界有25万童子军，其中90%的是男孩。”

She also said that 156 million men alive today were married as children.

她还说，如今仍活着的男人中有1.56亿是儿童时期就结婚了。

Witter and Michele Moloney-Kitts, head of Together for Girls, have written an opinion piece in which they said, “Violence is like a transmitted disease – and growing up around violence is the single best predictor that a child will go on to become either a victim or perpetrator of violence as adults.”

威特和“女孩在一起”负责人莫罗尼·基茨曾联合撰写过一篇评论文章，文章写道，“暴力就像是传染病，在暴力中长大是儿童成为受害者、或是成年后成为暴力的作恶者的最佳预测指标。”

They said that gender 4 norms make it difficult for boys to admit they are victims of violence. In fact, on average, men who finally disclose they were sexually assaulted do so 22 years after the assault occurred. That’s about 10 years later than women.

他们说，性别规则使得男孩难以承认自己是暴力的受害者，事实上，一般来说，男人会在遭遇暴力的22年后承认自己被性侵后，这比女性要晚10年。

To help boys become less vulnerable to violence, the NGOs recommended parenting programs for caregivers. School-based programs, they say, can teach adolescents about “safe dating practices.” Mentoring 5 programs have shown success in preventing homicides or joining gangs.

为帮助男孩免受暴力的侵害，这两个非盈利组织建议为看护人提供教养项目，他们说，基于学校的项目能教育青少年“安全的约会行为”。在预防杀人或加入团伙方面，辅导项目已经显示出成功。

The groups want the issue included in the new U.N. Sustainable Development goals that will be finalized 6 in September. Witter said life can be better for every child if U.N. members invest in breaking the cycle of violence.

这两个组织希望该问题能被收纳进将于9月份确定的新的联合国可持续发展目标中，威特说如果联合国成员国能在打破暴力怪圈上投资，那么每个儿童都会过得更好。

“I care deeply about boys and girls, you know. And I want to reduce violence against girls and I want to reduce violence against boys. I’m a mother of two young boys, six and eight, and this stuff is very personal to me. We can’t stop the cycle of violence unless we focus on boys and girls. What we want to do is just continue through the U.N. process and through talking to companies and through talking to communities and help scaling things that we know that work so that we reduce violence,” she said.

“我非常关心男孩和女孩们，我希望减少针对女孩的暴力，希望减少针对男孩的暴力。我是两个小男孩的母亲，他们一个6岁，一个8岁，这对我来说也是非常私人的事。除非我们关注男孩和女孩，否则我们是无法阻止暴力的循环的。我们想做的只是继续联合国的程序，通过与各公司和社区对话，评估各种情况，努力减少暴力。”

In related news, at the Third International Conference for Financing for Development in Addis Ababa this week, a global partnership 7 was announced to end violence against children.

与此相关的是，本周在阿迪斯亚贝巴举行的第三届发展筹资问题国际会议宣布成立一个全球合作伙伴关系来结束针对儿童的暴力。