About 120 million girls sexually abused before age of 20: UNICEF

PanARMENIAN.Net - About 120 million girls around the world - slightly more than one in 10 - have been raped or sexually assaulted by the age of 20, a UN report says, according to BBC News.

The children's agency UNICEF also says 95,000 children and teenagers - most of them in Latin America and the Caribbean - were murdered in 2012 alone. It notes that children around the globe are routinely exposed to violence, including bullying.

The document draws on data from 190 countries.

The violence "cuts across boundaries of age, geography, religion, ethnicity and income brackets,'' UNICEFexecutive director Anthony Lake said.

"It occurs in places where children should be safe, their homes, schools and communities. Increasingly, it happens over the internet, and it's perpetrated by family members and teachers, neighbours and strangers and other children.''

The study revealed that about six out of 10 children aged between two and 14 were subjected to physical punishment from their carers on a regular basis.

It noted that while there had been growing recognition in recent years about the impact of violence against children, it largely remained underreported and undocumented.

The report stressed that violence against children in some countries remained socially accepted or tacitly condoned, and quite often victims were too afraid to report the abuse.