ABSTRACT
Violence is firmly established as an important development issue. This is due to global increases in everyday violence, the globalisation of crime and violence, and the recognition that violence undermines sustainable development (Moser and McIlwaine, 2006). An important dimension of these debates is gender-and age-based violence. While these types of violence are now widely recognised as restricting women’s and young people’s freedom of participation in society, impeding the efficiency of development interventions and eroding their human rights, the international community has been slow to respond. Indeed, only in 1989 were the rights of children to protection from various forms of violence recognised in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Similarly, the elimination of violence against women was only formally called for in 1993 through a United Nations declaration. This relates to the invisible nature of much gender-and age-based violence, the fact it often occurs in the private sphere, is often deemed to be culturally acceptable and is associated with high levels of stigma.
