Children depend on their parents and families for protection, survival, and development. When torture is introduced into a family, the future development of the child can be severely jeopardized. A child may, for example, be forced to witness the torture of a parent, creating serious psychological problems for the child. These problems are made even worse as, in many cases, parents are unable to cope with their own physical or psychological effects of torture, let alone the effects of the torture on their child. The child may resent its parent because it can no longer feel protected, or it may feel guilty or ashamed that it was helpless to save its parent from harm.
Children can also be direct victims of torture.
Poor and disadvantaged children and street children are especially vulnerable. In many cases, they suffer the systematic under-reporting of these abuses. Children, especially from ethnic minorities, who grow up in an environment of political violence or war, comprise another group of children at risk of torture. Children may be tortured to punish their parents or to spread terror among the community. Sometimes children become politically active or participate voluntarily in armed conflicts and, in doing so, increase their risk of torture, including rape.