WUNRN
THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED
(IDP) GIRL CHILD
Displacement frequently causes the breakdown of family and community
structures and the disintegration of traditional social norms, leaving children
particularly vulnerable. Too often the rights of displaced children are
violated, resulting in abuse, discrimination, malnutrition, poverty or even
death. During 2006, displaced children were recruited by government forces and
armed groups, were victims of sexual exploitation, and/or were not able to go
to school. In most cases, national governments did not provide much-needed
assistance and protection. Violations against displaced children largely
continued unimpeded in 2006, despite the establishment in several countries of
a monitoring system on violations against children in armed conflict, as well
as advocacy efforts by the Office of the Special Representative of the UN
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, UNICEF, member states and
NGOs.
Major
violations
Girl in Humanitarian
Zone in Colombia,
Birkenes, 2006
Displaced children – particularly those who have been separated from parents
and family – are often targets of abduction and recruitment by rebel groups,
paramilitary or government forces. Recruitment of displaced and other children
by national armed forces and/or militias continued throughout the year in
Burundi, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, the DRC, Iraq, Burma, Nepal,
Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda. In addition to military
duties, displaced and other children are often sexually exploited or enslaved.
Displaced children were also denied education and health care. Destruction or
occupation of schools or hospitals in the course of attacks on civilian
populations occurred in the CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, Israel, Lebanon,
Nepal, the Palestinian Territories, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Also, in southern
Afghanistan, more than 100,000 children were reportedly denied access to
education because of insecurity caused by the Taleban and other armed groups.61
In Iraq, children were kidnapped and teachers subject to violence, both of
which seriously affected the delivery of education.
Humanitarian aid workers were often prevented from gaining access to displaced
children due to insecurity in several countries, such as the DRC and Iraq.
Meanwhile, the governments of Burma, Sudan and Zimbabwe severely restricted
humanitarian access to displaced children. In Nepal, humanitarian access
remained difficult in 2006 due to insecurity but also due to restrictions
imposed by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist. In Sri Lanka’s north and east,
both the government and the LTTE have denied access to humanitarian
organisations assisting displaced children. In Lebanon, displaced children were
denied humanitarian assistance because of an Israeli military blockade of
Lebanon’s borders and seaports, and the bombing of roads and the main airport.
Sexual violence continues to be a serious and significant part of the violence
suffered by displaced children (see Internally
Displaced Women page).
National responsibility
States bear the primary responsibility for the protection of displaced
children, as laid out in both humanitarian law governing conflict situations
and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocol on
children in armed conflict. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
also specifically recognise that “children and unaccompanied minors … shall be
entitled to protection and assistance by their condition and to treatment which
takes into account their special needs.”
In some countries experiencing internal displacement, including Colombia,
Sudan, Sri Lanka, Uganda and the DRC, the UN Special Representative on Children
and Armed Conflict has obtained commitments from parties to the conflicts not
to use landmines, attack schools or hospitals, or recruit or use children as
child soldiers, and to release abducted children. But, so far, these
commitments have not translated into tangible improvements for the children.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has the potential to act as an important
deterrent to abuses against displaced children. In March 2006, the ICC, with
the cooperation of DRC authorities, indicted Thomas Lubanga, leader of a
militia that had caused large-scale displacement in northeastern DRC, for the
commission of war crimes, the conscription and enlistment of children under the
age of 15, and the use of children for active participation in hostilities.
The international agenda
Displaced women and children
in Kenya, Bernstein,
2006
In order to bring an end to grave violations against displaced and other
children in situations of armed conflict, the UN Security Council passed a
resolution in 200564 outlining a Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism to be
implemented by the UN, in collaboration with government and civil society
organisations. The following violations are monitored by this mechanism:
killing or maiming of children; recruitment or use of children as soldiers;
attacks against schools or hospitals; denial of humanitarian access for
children; abduction of children; and rape and other grave sexual abuse of
children. A working group comprised of the 15 Security Council members reviews
and guides the monitoring process. In 2006, based on the above-mentioned
resolution, the UN Secretary-General reported to the Security Council on
violations in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, Somalia, Sudan, Nepal and Sri
Lanka. All these countries experience significant internal displacement, and
information on displaced children has improved as a result of the monitoring.
International initiatives to assist displaced children and to protect their
rights also included medical, psychosocial and legal assistance to survivors of
sexual violence, advocacy for the release of children associated with armed
forces and groups, demobilisation, family tracing and reintegration activities,
and mine awareness-raising, as well as the rehabilitation of schools that have
been attacked, the provision of school materials, and the building of
“safe-play” areas in towns and villages affected by mines and unexploded bombs.
Many of these activities were realised in collaboration with local partners. A
valuable resource for those working to better protect displaced children is “Right to Education
during Displacement: A resource for organizations working with refugees and
internally displaced persons”, developed by the Women’s Commission for
Refugee Women and Children in 2006.
_______________________________________________________________
For more information, please contact our IDP children focal
points, Dina
Abou Samra and Greta Zeender
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