Fausto "El Niño Migrante"

Family Violence and Child Abuse in
Latin America and the Caribbean
The Cases of Colombia and Mexico

Felicia Knaul
Miguel Ángel Ramírez

Inter-American Development Bank
Washington, D.C.

Sustainable Development Department
Technical Papers Series

Cataloging-in-Publication data provided by the
Inter-American Development Bank
Felipe Herrera Library
Knaul, Felicia Marie.
Familyviolence and child abuse in Latin America and the Caribbean : the cases of Colombia and
Mexico / Felicia Knaul, Miguel Angel Ramírez.
p.cm. (Sustainable Development Department Technical papers series; SOC-137)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Family violence—Colombia. 2. Family violence--Mexico. 3. Child abuse--Colombia. 4. Child
abuse—Mexico. 5. School attendance—Colombia—Effect of Childabuse on. 6. School attendance—
Mexico—Effect of Child abuse on. 7. Income—Colombia—Effect of Family violence on. 8. Income—
Mexico—Effect of Family violence on. I. Ramírez, Miguel Angel. II. Inter-American Development
Bank. Sustainable Development Dept. Social Development Div. III. Title. IV. Series.
362.8292 K282—dc22
Felicia Knaul is Lead Economist at the Mexican Foundation for Health(FUNSALUD) and General Coordinator for Modernization, Ministry of Public Education of Mexico. Miguel Ángel Ramírez is Program
Coordinator at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). At the time that this report was written,
the authors were, respectively, Director and Researcher at the Center for Social and Economic Analysis,
FUNSALUD, Mexico.
The authors express their gratitude for thecomments, suggestions and collaboration offered by Héctor
Arreola, Albert Berry, Loreto Biehl, Christian Borja, Carmen Eliza Flores, Andrew Morrison, and Ana
Cristina Torres.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the
Inter-American Development Bank.
February 2005
This publication (SOC-137) can be obtained through:
PublicationsSocial Development Division
Inter-American Development Bank
1300 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20577
Fax:
202-623-1576
Email: sds/soc@iadb.org
Web Site: www.iadb.org/sds/soc

Foreword
Domestic or family violence is, unfortunately, a common form of violence affecting the lives of victims
and the development prospects of countries. The recent development literature hasattempted to measure
the economic costs of different forms of violence, including that against women, and its prevalence. But
family violence also affects children and the elderly, although less is known about the magnitude, forms
and consequences of violence against them. The suspicion, however, is that violence against children is
especially prevalent and has alarming productivity andintergenerational impacts. Abuse can affect children’s performance in school and, therefore, their productivity as adults. Abused children also learn aggressive behaviors that they tend to model later in life, perpetuating violence from one generation to the
next.
Available data, while inadequate, suggests that the region of Latin America and the Caribbean exhibits
some of the highest rates of familyviolence in the world. It has been estimated that more than 6 million
children suffer abuse and more than 80,000 die each year as result of it. This study supports this hypothesis with empirical evidence from large sample surveys in urban Colombia (1993) and Mexico City (1999).
The authors find that over 2 million children and youth, and 23 percent of families, experience abuse in
urban Colombia, andthat 1 million children and 13 percent of households do so in Mexico City. Data on
the intergenerational transmission of this type of violence are also included.
The report analyzes the impact of child abuse on children’s educational outcomes and adult labor wages,
using a human capital framework. It finds robust evidence of the impacts of child violence on school attendance and educational...