Protection of Unaccompanied Children in Humanitarian Crisis

Child Protection in Emergencies

In large scale emergencies, unaccompanied children are the most vulnerable population and group most in need of immediate care and protection. Because they are children, they are the least able to seek out the care and protection they require. When they lose the guardianship of their parents or caregivers in emergencies, they are vulnerable to sexual assault, abuse, physical harm, kidnapping, forced smuggling, long term psychological trauma, and many other risks. To give protection to unaccompanied children is both a moral imperative and a principle well established in national and international law.  

Definitions

“The concept of ‘protection’ refers to all activities aimed at ensuring full respect for the rights of individual – in this case a child – as set out in the relevant human rights instruments and international humanitarian law” (ICRC, 1999). Moreover, UNICEF, one of the world’s leading organizations in the field of Protection, “uses the term ‘child protection’ to refer to preventing and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse against children – including commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labor and harmful traditional practices” (UNICEF, 2006). UNICEF defines some of the key terms as below. 

Every emergency, whether a rapid onset natural disaster or armed conflict, often leads to the separation of children from their families and caregivers in the commotion of survival and flight (UNICEF, 2011). In such situations, the humanitarian organizations prioritize tangible aspects of humanitarian aid such as food assistance, water, shelter, healthcare, and other basic human needs. However, Protection and in particular, Child Protection, is among the issues that receive insufficient attention from humanitarian actions under circumstances where one of the most vulnerable, yet invisible groups are children: who comprise almost half of the affected population. 

“Separated children are those separated from both parents, or from their previous legal or customary primary caregiver, but not necessarily from other relatives. These may, therefore, include children accompanied by other adult family members” (UNICEF, 2011). 

“Unaccompanied children are children who have been separated from both parents or caregivers and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible for doing so” (UNICEF, 2011).
 

Understanding family separation

When there is an emergency, children are one of the potential suffering population and at high risk of losing the company of their parents or usual caregivers. However, some other factors determine the number of displaced families, unaccompanied and separated children. Different types of emergencies and contexts – whether armed conflict, natural disaster or political unrest as well as the context and geographic location may result in massive population movements over extensive areas, including across international borders, and may also result in large numbers of unaccompanied or separated children. Other disasters which are of a smaller scale and relatively less likely to happen, such as the explosion of ammunition stockpiles, may also result in population displacement and family separation.  

Population movements that are forecasted, planned and prepared for may minimize the scale of displacement and family separation. Those able to move in a more organized fashion are often those in urban areas with access to transport, the internet access and mobile phones, all of which facilitate organization, information-sharing, communication and reunification within families (IAWG-UASC, 2004).  

Causes of family Separation in emergencies

Prevention and response efforts require different methods and approaches, depending on whether the separation is accidental or deliberate. Therefore, it is essential to understand the nature of family separation. Accidental separation is not planned or anticipated and occurs against the will of the parent/caregiver and children. It generally occurs when communities are under attack or forced to flee from danger. 

Causes of accidental separation include: 

1. Children with disabilities may get separated due to their inability to keep up during the chaotic circumstances of displacement.  
2. Children become separated in transit sites or IDP camps searching for food, collecting firewood or doing other household activities. 
3. When the event strikes, children are in different locations such as school or playground and are unable to find one another. 
4. Family members are injured, killed, captured, kidnapped, abducted, arrested, or detained. 
5. Children are abducted for trafficking, recruitment into armed forces or armed groups. 
6. “When schools or other educational institutions are not functional due to conflict, and parents send their children to areas where education and services are available” (IAWG-UASC, 2004).

Protection of children and prevention of separation

To avoid separation and ensure that they receive special protection they need during emergencies, prevention and preparedness activities should be incorporated into all stages of the programme cycle. Thus, prevention and preparedness for separation resulting from emergencies involves the identification and implementation of measures to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to separation in emergencies at both community and national levels. 

Community-level approaches – building local capacities 

Although this type of system has existed in the past, local populations often lacked the skills and knowledge to carry out protection actions. When individuals would volunteer in the provision of protection to UASC without prior minimum experience, it could result in more harm than good. Therefore, forming and strengthening community child protection committees and working with families and children to build their capacity is highly important and can entail the below measures: 

1. Risk analysis of separation and strengthening resilience among communities as resilient communities can best respond to emergencies. 
2. Conducting awareness-raising activities and teaching children and parents the necessary information such as their IDP site/camp or representatives’ name. 
3. Identification and monitoring of sites with high chances family separation and establish appropriate ‘lost children’ banners, child protection locations or family reunion centers. 
4. Conducting information campaigns to inform communities in transit how to prevent separation and who to notify if there is an occurrence of such cases. 
5. Identifying existing residential care centre and work with centre staff to ensure that children are only placed there as a last resort. 
6. Work with local authorities, identify and support community networks to strengthen the capacity of child protection systems at the local level.  

National-level prevention approaches 

Parallel to community-level prevention and preparedness measures, child protection actors should take national-level actions which include supporting the development and reinforcement of child protection systems. Further, it is significantly essential that the same actors strategically design programmes and advocate with governments and international organizations to strengthen national child protection systems, policies, and practices. Below are some measures that relevant government and non-government actors can jointly work on; 

1. Strengthening or implementing mechanisms for monitoring families at risk of separation and referral systems. 
2. For non-government organizations to organize or facilitate trainings to build the local government capacity and encourage collaboration between relevant actors.  
3. Working with social welfare services to ensure that quality case management systems are in place, including monitoring and follow-up of children at risk. 
4.  Establishing coordination between relevant child protection actors and social services and agree on ways of working (IAWG-UASC, 2004). 

Conclusion

Protection has become one of the core elements of humanitarian action. The need for protection is as significant as the need for food, water, shelter and NFIs. Having understood that the protection activities in emergencies are more of humanitarian actors’ responsibilities, the prevention approach of protection of unaccompanied children may require involvement of both HA and semi-development actors. Thus, both humanitarian agencies and development actors must ensure that there are specific child-related aspects of protection considered in the planning and programming of operations, particularly in Disaster Risk Reduction projects. Further, it is also essential to involve and assist the local authorities and communities in the enhancement of their awareness, knowledge and capacities as community structures can be important source of  child protection in situations of displacement.  

About the Author

Hammed Hakimi is a current EMJMD student in International Humanitarian Action and a professional humanitarian with around six years of hands-on field experience in Afghanistan. He is focused on the area of Protection Mainstreaming in emergency response contexts.

Sources

ICRC (1999) Workshop on protection for human rights and humanitarian organizations – doing something about it and doing it well, Report on the fourth workshop held at the ICRC, Geneva.  

UNICEF (2006) What is Child Protection? Available at: https://www.unicef.org/chinese/protection/files/What_is_Child_Protection.pdf [accessed 12 Nov 2020]  

Inter-Agency Guiding Principles on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (2004) available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4113abc14.html [accessed 27 March 2020] 

UNICEF (2011) Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse – Family separation in emergencies , available at https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57994.html [accessed. 23 March 2020] 

Inter-agency working group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (2004) Field Handbook on Unaccompanied and Separated Children. 

IASC (2016) Statement on the Centrality of Protection: IASC Policy on Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2016. Inter-Agency Standing Committee. IASC secretariat – Geneva. 

Sphere association. The Sphere Handbook. Humanitarian Charter and minimum Standards in Humanitarian response, Fourth edition, Geneva, Switzerland.