H. Res. 230 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
March 3, 2020. 
Whereas violence against children can take many forms, in-
cluding sexual violence, physical violence, emotional vio-
lence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation; 
Whereas, each year, more than 1,000,000,000 children world-
wide are exposed to violence; 
Whereas, each year, the global economic impact of physical, 
psychological, and sexual violence against children is esti-
mated to be as high as $7,000,000,000,000, which is 8 
percent of global gross domestic product (‘‘global GDP’’); 
Whereas, around the world, an estimated 1 in 3 adolescent 
girls between 15 and 19 years of age, or 84,000,000 
girls, have been victims of emotional, physical, or sexual 
violence, which is often perpetrated by individuals the 
girls know; 
Whereas 1 in 5 girls in the developing world is said to be 
married before reaching 18 years of age and, of those 
girls, an estimated 1 in 9 is said to be married before 
reaching 15 years of age; 
Whereas, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund 
(‘‘UNICEF’’), if current child marriage rates continue, 
120,000,000 girls, an average of 12,000,000 girls a year,
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will be married before their 18th birthday over the next 
decade; 
Whereas 246,000,000 boys and girls experience school-re-
lated, gender-based violence each year; 
Whereas children with disabilities reportedly are 3 to 4 times 
more likely to experience physical or sexual violence; 
Whereas the tens of millions of children living outside of fam-
ily care, including those living on the streets, working 
away from home, or in residential care, are particularly 
vulnerable to violence and abuse; 
Whereas an estimated 152,000,000 children are involved in 
child labor and 4,300,000 children are subject to forced 
labor, including in situations of trafficking; 
Whereas nearly half of the 68,500,000 individuals who are 
currently displaced by conflict and war around the world 
are children, and displacement exposes those children to 
increased risk of exploitation, violence, and abuse; 
Whereas, according to the United Nations, from 2016 to 
2017, verified cases of child recruitment, including forc-
ible recruitment, and child participation in armed con-
flict— 
(1) quadrupled in the Central African Republic; 
(2) doubled in the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo; and 
(3) persisted at alarming levels in Somalia, South 
Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen; 
Whereas more than 10,000 children were killed or maimed in 
2017 in armed conflict; 
Whereas the risks of online abuse and exploitation of children 
is constantly growing, with the National Center for Miss-
ing and Exploited Children reviewing cases involving
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(1) condemns all forms of violence against children 
and youth globally, including physical, mental, and sex-
ual violence, neglect, abuse, maltreatment, and exploi-
tation; and 
(2) should— 
(A) develop and implement a comprehensive 
and coordinated strategy built on evidence-based 
practices, including the technical package called 
‘‘INSPIRE: Seven Strategies for Ending Violence 
against Children’’ put forth by the World Health 
Organization; and 
(B) adopt common metrics and indicators to 
monitor progress across Federal agencies to pre-
vent, address, and end violence against children and 
youth globally, including harmful impacts of vio-
lence on the healthy development of children and 
the harmful economic impact of violence against 
children and youth globally. 
Attest: 
Clerk.