Unseen, Unsafe: The Underinvestment in Ending Violence Against Children in the Pacific and Timor-Leste

The child protection landscape across the Pacific and Timor-Leste is going through immense change and development. Governments across the region are endeavouring to build robust systems to protect children.

Most tragically, children are not only victimised by the harmful attitudes, actions and norms that are dominant in
their families and communities; they grow up to embody those social influences and the cycle of violence continues.

Despite the clear evidence of the scale and gravity of violence perpetrated against children in the region, funders and policymakers have thus far failed to enact the measures needed to end this scourge. These children remain ‘unseen and unsafe’ within a system that has failed to invest in their safety.

For the first time, this report reveals the critical lack of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) invested by the Australian Government and other key donors in programs aimed at ending violence against children (EVAC).