UKRAINEUKRAINEA UNICEF report published in 2010 states that 70% of children aged 2-14 experienced violent discipline (physical punishment and/or psychological aggression) in 2005-2006. Over one third experienced physical punishment, while a smaller percentage (13%) of mothers and caregivers thought that physical punishment was necessary in childrearing, and non-violent discipline was also widely used: experienced by 96% of children. Two per cent of children experienced severe physical punishment (being hit or slapped on the face, head or ears or being hit over and over with an implement) and 66% experienced psychological aggression (being shouted at, yelled at, screamed at or insulted). Boys were more likely than girls to experience violent discipline: 76% compared to 65%. Children aged 5-9 were more likely to experience violent discipline than those of other ages: 79% of children aged 5-9 compared to 60% of children aged 2-4 and 66% of children aged 10-14. No significant differences in children’s experience of violent discipline were found according to household size, level of education of adults in the household or engagement in child labour.
(UNICEF, 2010, Child Disciplinary Practices at Home: Evidence from a Range of Low- and Middle-Income Countries, NY: UNICEF)
According to statistics from UNICEF on violence in the family, in 2005-2006 four per cent of girls and women aged 15-49 thought that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances; 11% of boys and men aged 15-49 thought this.
(UNICEF, 2009, Progress for Children: A report card on child protection, NY: UNICEF)
35% of respondents to a 2009 survey of 1,501 parents aged over 25 believed that corporal punishment should never be used, 51% said that corporal punishment “should not be used in general but in certain situations it is justified” and 12% said that corporal punishment “could be used”. 54% of respondents believed that corporal punishment was experienced by more than 50% of children in Ukraine.
(Child Well Being Fund Ukraine, 2009, Public opinion monitoring in Ukraine: July 2009
www.canee.net/files/Omnibus research Ukraine 2009.pdf)
Part of the Childhood Without Abuse project, which includes studies carried out in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine in 2005 and 2009.
www.canee.net/bulgaria/research_on_the_problem_of_child_abuse_in_eastern_europe
A 2009 survey of 213 teachers in primary schools in Kiev found that 74% belived that corporal punishment is humiliating for the child and that it meant that “the parents are not good at rearing children”. 76% of respondents felt that the use of “spanking” as a punishment would justify intervention by a third party.
(Child Well Being Fund Ukraine and Nobody’s Children Foundation, 2009, Kiev teachers’ attitudes toward child abuse
www.canee.net/files/Teachers studies Ukraine 2009.pdf)
Part of the Childhood Without Abuse project, which includes studies carried out in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine in 2005 and 2009.
www.canee.net/bulgaria/research_on_the_problem_of_child_abuse_in_eastern_europe