A newly-published United Nations report calls for protection of children against violence, noting that harmful traditional practices and corporal punishment in schools are the most common form of violence against children.

The study which was carried out in 133 countries including 18 from Eastern and Southern Africa showed that violence against children has been socially accepted in most countries.

Speaking during at the launch of the report in Nairobi on Monday, Per Engeback, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa said efforts to eradicate abuse of children in Africa should concentrate on fighting gender-based violence, including rape, which exposes youngsters to HIV/AIDS, mistreatment at school and harmful traditional practices.

"Within the region, two out of three new HIV/AIDS infections in the 15 to 24 age group are girls or women. The face of HIV is a woman's face, a girl's face," said Engeback.

The UN World Report on Violence Against Children which was prepared by an independent expert, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, for the UN Secretary-General, said sexual violence and widespread poverty had exacerbated the spread of HIV/AIDS, with average prevalence rates among young women in the 15-24 age groups two to six times higher than for boys.

The Eastern and Southern Africa region, it said, has an estimated 12 million children orphaned by AIDS, many of whom headhouse holds and are vulnerable to exploitation. Kenya is estimated to have at least one million AIDS orphans.

Kenya Vice President Moody Awori who launched the report noted that there is lack of adequate data on the vice due to failure to report such incidences.

"This therefore pointed to the need for carrying out in-depth research that would identify the forms, causes and impact of violence and ways of combating it," said the vice president.

He noted that several in-depth research and surveys which include a study on Female Genital Mutilation, the Extent and Effect of Child Sex Tourism and Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Kenyan Coast as well as Assessment of the Situation of Corporal Punishment, have been carried out in Kenya to bridge this gap.

With most children ignorant of their rights, Awori said there was a need to empower children on how to protect themselves, involve them in matters affecting them and harmonizing laws relating to children.

Kenyan children were involved in the UN study and came up with a Children's Charter that recommended that they be encouraged to participate actively in matters affecting them, be empowered to protect themselves from violence and all laws relating to them be harmonized to have a common definition of a child.

Vice President Awori said important strides have been made in legal and policy reform with several Bills awaiting enactment which include the Domestic Violence (Family Protection) Bill, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Bill, the Counter Trafficking in Persons Bill in addition to the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Policy that is awaiting approval by Cabinet.

The study was mandated by the UN General Assembly through resolution 56/138 of 2001 and is the first comprehensive, global study conducted by the United Nations on all forms of violence against children and also the first to engage directly and consistently with children.

The study calls on states to take primary responsibility for preventing abuses by providing a robust legal framework capable of "prohibiting all forms of violence against children whenever it occurs and whoever is the perpetrator".