"Violence Ends With Us": A Youth-Led Summit on Ending Violence Against Children

ᯓ★  Event dates: 14-17 April 2026

⋆ ꩜ Time/Duration: 3 day summit

*ੈ✩‧₊ Venue: Antipolo City, Rizal, Philippines

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Background

In November 2024, governments across the Asia-Pacific gathered in Bogotá, Colombia, for the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children— pledging to better protect children and ensure young people have a real say in decisions that affect them. But despite these commitments, Violence Against Children (VAC) is still widespread, and young advocates across the region have had no shared platform to connect, align their efforts, or push for lasting change together. The "Violence Ends With Us" summit was created to change that. The summit was organised by the Global Youth-Led Movement on Ending VAC and it brought together young people aged 15–25 from across the Asia-Pacific to design solutions and build a unified youth agenda ahead of the 2nd Global Ministerial Conference, which the Philippines will host in November 2026. From Singapore, Solana (23), Fitri (20), Hannah (18), Shi Nuo (18), and Giselle (17) were selected through an interview process to participate in the summit.

Before the Summit

Before flying to the Philippines, all participants attended four online sessions to learn more about the summit's key themes: Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA), corporal punishment (such as caning and spanking), child labour, and child marriage. Delegates didn't need to be experts on these topics, their experiences growing up were more valuable. They all came from diverse backgrounds and had different motivations for joining the summit— some were survivors of violence, while others simply wanted to make the world safer for children in the future.

Teams also connected with each other early, preparing a hackathon planning sheet together before departure. Each team received feedback from the organising team to help sharpen their ideas before the summit even began.

At the Summit

Although Giselle was unable to attend the summit, Shi Nuo, Fitri, Hannah, and Solana represented Singapore over three days alongside 150 delegates from more than 23 countries. They took part in open dialogues, hands-on learning sessions, and a hackathon where teams pitched solutions to end violence against children. The highest-scoring ideas receiving seed funding and an invitation to present at the 2nd Global Ministerial Conference in November 2026.

Shi Nuo's team came out as one of two winners in the Corporal Punishment track. Their proposed project, a youth-led interactive podcast called Pause Before You Act, uses storytelling and reflection to shift how people think about corporal punishment. Each episode will draw on real experiences, youth voices, and conversations with educators and caregivers— exploring what discipline really means and how it affects children emotionally. Stay tuned to our Youth Voices page to see their project come to life!

Trip Highlights

Check out highlights from their trip below!