How does Violence against Children (VAC) intersect with Climate Change (CC)?
Photo: © Simone Datzberger
In my recent work I became interested in the intersections of violence, education and the environment. My longstanding research in and on Karamoja (a sub-region of Uganda) sparked my interest in the intersections of violence against children (VAC), environmental degradation (ED) and climatic changes (CC) in LLMICs (Low- and Low-Middle Income Countries).
VACCC – How does Violence Against Children (VAC) intersect with Climate Change (CC)?) is an initial pilot study funded by UCL Grand Challenges. The project seeks to provide insights on how the disruption of ecosystems (human-induced and due to climate change), affect children’s exposure to and experience of violence (physical, emotional, sexual, structural and repressive). It centralizes local perspectives of VAC in LLMICs affected by CC and investigates how CC disadvantages children through increased violence exposure.
There is growing evidence about how forms and levels of VAC varies between contexts, and how socioeconomic conditions have a bearing. However, there have been few in-depth analyses of the ways in which changing environmental conditions (or shocks) affect children’s experiences of violence. VACCC’s objectives are therefore:
Objective 1: Promote knowledge exchange and foster new networks by bringing together academics, practitioners, policy and civil society actors, incl. activists working on the effects of CC on human populations.
Objective 2: Raise global and domestic awareness on the interlinkages of VAC and CC.
Objective 3: Centralize local perspectives and contribute to the decolonization of research on how to mitigate and end VAC in relation to CC.
Objective 4: Inform a new research agenda on the intersections of VAC and CC.
PI: Dr. Simone Datzberger; Co-PI: Dr. Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson; Mentor: Prof. Jenny Parkes; Research Assistant: Lottie Howard-Merrill, External Collaborator: Dr. Steven Kator (University of Nigeria)