UNICEF reports high levels of child abuse in Hungary
The Florence-based Innocenti Research Centre of UNICEF has released a report on "child maltreatment and death" in the OECD countries. The study shows that about 3500 children under the age of 15 die every year because of abuse and maltreatment - and that Hungary has one of the worst child abuse records amongst industrialised nations.
Every second week a child dies in Hungary because of abuse or maltreatment. With this result, Hungary is 6th in the line of the 27 OECD countries surveyed by UNICEF. This very figure, however, applies to the known and reported cases only, because - as Edit Kecskeméti, the head of UNICEF's Hungarian office says - a number of cases still remain hidden from the authorities.
"We have to keep in mind that the data on domestic violence is not an exact statistical data. In many cases we are talking about assessments and in many cases the inaccuracy is very high."
This is the first time that UNICEF conducted a survey to compare the situation in European countries, and the report does give some concrete figures, particularly for Hungary.
"For Hungary we have a figure for a five year period - 113 children were killed by either abuse or negligence. And what is very interesting and very sad is that out of these 113 children almost half were under one year old. Which of course points out that a lot needs to be done in preparing families for having children or getting married. I think it is something that is very much missing in Hungarian society at the moment."
The UNICEF report also looks into the possible causes of the situation, saying that behind the Hungarian figures there might be certain economic and social reasons. Edit Kecskeméti:
"Economic stress in the family, unemployment or to live in a family where both income earners are unemployed is one of the risk factors. The other one, which I think is very important in Hungary, is substance abuse, mostly alcohol, which is a significant problem in Hungary. And then I would also underline that usually the number of child abuse cases is higher in a society which is in fact a violent society."
Based on what the study suggests, the Hungarian society does seem to be a violent one: 80% of the parents believe that corporal punishment is an accepted part of raising children, while that rate in, say, Sweden in 10%. Edit Kecskeméti does not expect a rapid improvement. She says we do very little in Hungary, be it legal regulations or common practice, to create an environment, which rejects violence, where peaceful conflict resolution methods are thought. And there is a lot to be done in this respect.
