(@MrLachris/Twitter)

Unicef also reported that the majority of these cases occured in countries as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea and that about half the girls between the ages of 15 and 19 who were sexually assaulted never told anybody.

“These are uncomfortable facts no government or parent will want to see them. But unless we confront the reality each infuriating statistic represents the life of a child whose right to a safe, protected childhood has been violated we will never change the mindset that violence against children is normal and permissible,” Unicef's executive director Anthony Lake said. 

Read more about the findings through Gulf News or through Unicef's website here. 

Reach Supervising Executive Producer Shilpa Nagesh here. Follow her on Twitter here.