Shelly Whitman*

The UN Secretary-General will release the Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict to the Security Council this month. It will be noted that serious challenges to the protection of children affected by armed conflict continue to persist. Attacks on children’s well being that range from abductions, to attacks on schools and hospitals, to the recruitment and use of children and the direct killing and maiming of children have all been key features of the conflicts that currently exist. Flagrant violations of the laws of war as well as human rights law by parties to war, which include governments, are unfortunately common features that directly impact our children.

Tia Palermo and Anastasia Neijhoft*

Can social protection programmes reduce childhood violence? If so, what forms of violence can it reduce and through which pathways? What evidence is available to date, and what are the gaps where more research is needed?

These are the questions that 25 experts from around the world gathered to discuss at an expert roundtable organised by UNICEF Office of Research -Innocenti and Know Violence in Childhood in Florence, Italy 12-13 May 2016.