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Child Protection
Introduction
Child protection is the prevention of and response to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence against children. Humanitarian crises often have long-lasting, devastating effects on children’s lives. The child protection risks children face include family separation, recruitment into armed forces or groups, physical or sexual abuse, psychosocial distress or mental disorders, economic exploitation, injury and even death.
Child protection actors and interventions seek to prevent and respond to all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence. Effective child protection builds on existing capacities and strengthens preparedness before a crisis occurs. During humanitarian crises, timely interventions support the physical and emotional health, dignity and well-being of children, families and communities.
Child Protection in Humanitarian Action promotes the wellbeing and healthy development of children and saves lives.
Inter-Sectoral Approach
It is important for sectors to work together to promote child protection and well-being. Increasingly complex emergencies pose new risks to the well-being of affected children. These risks emphasise the need to place protection at the centre of all humanitarian response. Child protection risks are closely linked with the work of other sectors because children have needs that fall under all sectors. For example, a lack of education or family livelihood can increase risks of child marriage or child labour.
Multisectoral approaches reflect the interconnected needs of children and emphasise all humanitarian actors’ collective responsibility to protect children and their families.
Focused, specialised child protection interventions are critical for protecting children. However, no single sector that operates in a crisis has the knowledge, skills and resources to fully prevent risks, respond to children’s protection needs and promote children’s rights and well-being. All humanitarian actors have the obligation to engage in multisectoral child protection activities. Such activities are important under the ‘Centrality of Protection’, which recognises that protection is the purpose and intended outcome of humanitarian action and must be at the centre of all preparedness and response actions.
Sectoral programming that fails to account for child protection risks can lead to:
- Inefficient use of resources
- Additional harm or increased risks
- Reduced results for children
On the other hand, multisectoral programming that intentionally includes and addresses child protection considerations (such as children’s particular risks, vulnerabilities, developmental stages, etc.) contributes to higher-quality impacts. This improves the outcomes of other sectors, promotes positive outcomes for children, and ensures their well-being.
Examples of risk factors driving child protection concerns in sites
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Lack of a site resident database/overview of the site population to enable better targeting of protection and assistance.
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Inadequate lighting in communal places or along routes.
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Lack of access to/challenges to access services (e.g. educational, social, nutrition, healthcare services), including due to distance, the route to services not being safe or due to lack of documentation, or difficulty to obtain assistance (for instance, being asked for bribes or exclusion due to lack of adult supervision, specifically unaccompanied or separated children or children in child-headed households, etc.).
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A lack of safe spaces, recreational areas etc for children, or they are located far from shelters
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Lack of child-friendly, accessible and confidential two-way communications systems, including feedback and reporting mechanisms.
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CCCM actors and service providers are not trained on safeguarding policies and procedures.
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Lack of adequate, safe and confidential referral pathways established with protection actors, and/or CCCM actors and service providers are not trained on how to use them.
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Presence of hazards within a site, for example falling hazards such as holes.
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Multiple households living together in one dwelling without barriers/structures for privacy.
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Insufficient security in camp settings leaving children more susceptible to violence, abuse, or exploitation (including petty crime/theft, recruitment into armed forces or groups, gender-based violence, etc.).
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Latrines or bathing facilities are not separated for males and females or well lit with lighting or with functioning locks on the inside of doors.
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Safe spaces, recreational areas, schools, latrines, or bathing facilities physically inaccessible to children with disabilities.
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Information Education and Communication (IEC) material inaccessible to children.
Child Protection & CCCM
Collaboration
By including child protection considerations into the CCCM sector, displaced children and their families can better access the services they need and have greater dignity and safety in terms of where and how they live during displacement. Working together, CCCM and child protection actors will be better able to prevent and mitigate harmful outcomes for children.
Child Protection Minimum Standards
The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action can be used by child protection and other humanitarian actors. Standard 28 covers camp management and child protection, supporting camp management and child protection actors to work together to implement activities in displacement sites in a protective, child-participatory manner that reduces the risks children face.
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Key actions for child protection and camp management actors to implement together
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Key actions for child protection actors
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Key actions for camp management actors
Get Support
For questions on child protection & CCCM mainstreaming and integration, contact your local Child Protection Area of Responsibility (CP AoR) Coordinator (the Child Protection Sub-Cluster or Sub-Sector Coordinator). If you are unable to reach the national Child Protection AoR Coordinator, you can contact the Global Child Protection AoR Help Desks at any time.
- Global CP AoR English Help Desk: [email protected]
- Global CP AoR Arabic Help Desk: [email protected]
- Global CP AoR French Help Desk : [email protected]
- Global CP AoR Spanish Help Desk: [email protected]
Actions
A CCCM Cluster coordination team should aim to:
- Ensure all Cluster partners are aware of the Child Protection Minimum Standards, and the recommended key actions in Standard 28 on camp management and child protection
- Conduct joint assessment & analysis with the Child Protection Sub-Cluster and child protection actors, and/or incorporate relevant indicators into CCCM assessments
- Promote or coordinate joint risk analysis to assess safety risks in displacement sites (see example in Related Resources below)