ETHIOPIAETHIOPIAA 2010 African Child Policy Forum report on violence against children with disabilities in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia documented a very high level of violence. Nearly a thousand 18-24 year olds took part in the study across the five countries, reporting on their experiences as children. In Ethiopia, 68% of the sample had experienced at least one type of physical violence during their childhood. Over 50% of respondents had been hit, punched, kicked or beaten and over 25% had been denied food. The most common perpetrators of physical violence were mothers (12.5%), fathers (12.1%) and other relatives (15%). Across the five countries, 23% of the young people said that they had experienced physical violence which was “mostly discipline, reasonable and justified” and 27% said that they had experienced physical violence which was “mostly discipline but not reasonable or justified”. Twenty-six per cent said that they had experienced emotional violence which was “discipline, but not reasonable or justified”, and 22% that they had experienced emotional violence that was “disciplinary, reasonable and justified”. Across all five countries, more than half (54%) of those who had been physically beaten said they had suffered broken bones, teeth, bleeding or bruising; 2% had been permanently disabled; 21% required medical attention; 13% had to miss school or work; and 20% had needed rest at home. For all five countries, the majority of respondents with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities experienced physical violence more than 10 times. The report recommends prohibition of all corporal punishment, including in the home, as a way to minimise the risk of violence against children with disabilities.
(The African Child Policy Forum, 2010, Violence Against Children With Disabilities in Africa: Field Studies from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia, Addis Ababa: The African Child Policy Forum)
A 2010 study into child care institutions in Ethiopia studied 87 institutions through visits, document reviews, interviews and focus groups with institution staff, parents of children living in institutions and former residents. The study found that children in institutions were frequently subjected to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and exploitation. In focus group discussions, foster care was also discussed. Participants stated that children in foster care, too, often experienced violence at the hands of their caregivers, and that foster children were treated as “second-class citizens”. The report does not examine the extent to which the violence was inflicted in the context of “discipline”.
(FHI, 2010, Improving Care Options for Children in Ethiopia through Understanding Institutional Child Care and Factors Driving Institutionalization)
A study in 116 schools in various areas of Ethiopia which looked at violence against girls in schools found that 34% of students but only 25% of teachers stated that girls experience corporal punishment in schools.
(Save the Children Denmark, 2008, A study on violence against girls in primary schools and its impacts on girls’ education in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa www.ungei.org/resources/files/Study_on_Violence_Against_Schoolgfils_final.pdf)
A survey of 485 young women in Ethiopia aged 18-24 years concerning their childhood experiences of violence, undertaken by the Africa Child Policy Forum and published in 2006, found that 84% had suffered one or more types of violence. Beating with an object was found to be the most prevalent form of physical violence (71.1%). Prevalence figures for other forms of physical abuse were 59.5% for punching, 43.3% kicking, 28.6% being forced to carry out hard work, 12.4% being choked/burned/stabbed, 10.9% having spicy/bitter food put into mouth, 9.7% being locked up, and 8.3% being denied food. Girls were found to be most vulnerable to beating with an object when aged 10-13 years (59.4%) and to being hit/punched when aged 14-17 years (58.4%). Experiencing the violence more than ten times was more likely in the case of beating than other types of physical violence except for hard work. Most beating with an object and hitting/punching was carried out by mothers (45.2% and 27.2% respectively), followed by fathers (39.1% and 21.5%) and brothers (23.9% and 24%). In 55.5% of cases, the hitting/punching resulted in “bruises or scratches, broken bones or teeth, or bleeding”; the corresponding figure for beating with an object was 32.2%. The most frequent reasons given to the girls by the perpetrators of the violence were reported as doing something wrong, disrupting the home/class, going out without permission or coming in late, failing to complete an assignment, refusing to accept a proposal for love or sex, giving a confrontational reply, and going out with men.
(Stavropoulos, J., 2006, Violence Against Girls in Africa: A Retrospective Survey in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, Addis Ababa, The African Child Policy Forum)