CRI听力:UN: 120 Million Girls Worldwide have been Victims of Forced Sex

A startling new report from the United Nations is suggesting some 120 million girls around the world under the age of 20 have been forced into having sex over the past decade.

The report from UN children's agency UNICEF also suggests around one-fifth of all homicide victims in the world are under the age of 20.

The UNICEF report says around 95-thousand young people were murdered around the world in 2012.

The report, drawing on data from 190 countries, says children from around the world are routinely exposed to violence, ranging from homicide and forced sexual acts to bullying and abusive discipline.

It cites a number of reasons why the phenomenon has remained largely ignored, including a lack of enforcement, apathy and an unwillingness of victims to report crimes against them.

Susan Bissell is Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF.

"This is truly a global phenomenon, nobody is off the hook here - rich country, poor country, north, south, east or west. Sadly the common tie that seems to bind humanity right now is our capacity to violate our children."

A separate UNICEF report has laid out a series of strategies to prevent and respond to violence against children, including more support for families, in the hope of reducing the risk of violence within the home.