ABSTRACT
States have been unwilling or unable to protect their citizens from torture at the hands of certain groups or individuals. Some abusive treatment of children may not generally be seen to constitute torture or ill-treatment and so it is important to remember that the number of children facing physical violence and mistreatment – too high though it is – is not the whole story. The potential for recognition of refugee children’s needs in their own right has been increased by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the case of refugee children, torture and other abusive treatment may be the cause of a child, with or without family, fleeing to safety and becoming a refugee. For many refugee children, one of the greatest shocks about life in the country to which they have fled for safety is the racism and bullying they face.
