Keeping children safe from harm and promoting their well-being is and must be everybody’s business.
This advocacy brief reflects on lessons arising from past and ongoing crises worldwide, outlines principles to guide action in response to similar crises in the future, and proposes policy actions to strengthen the effective protection of children. It is issued jointly by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (OSRSG-VAC), in close partnership with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.
The number of children on the move, including refugee and displaced children is increasing. This is putting huge pressure on governments, communities and the humanitarian agencies that work to protect them.
Displacement undermines the protection of children by disrupting their family and community support, increasing their poverty, and reducing their access to the economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to education and health. Many of these children – including migrant children – remain invisible to national child protection systems or are caught in a bureaucratic net of lengthy processes to determine their status, and this curtails their opportunities for a better future.
Coordination is vital amongst relevant authorities and entities at national and sub-national levels, civil society actors, international agencies and concerned governments to protect displaced children from all forms of violence.
Governments and the humanitarian community need to be held accountable to make the protection of children a top priority. In short, keeping children safe from harm and promoting their wellbeing is – and must be – everybody’s business.
