Fantasy world

WHY CHILDREN ARE IMPORTANT TO YOUR WORK

During emergencies, children are subject to increased abuse, violence and exploitation. New risks and threats are triggered by the emergency, but also by how relief is organized and delivered. To avoid common mistakes, all aid workers must consider children’s special vulnerabilities, capacities and developmental needs when designing and delivering assistance. We must ensure that our actions do not create new protection concerns. Below are some simple actions you can take to keep children safe.

KEY ACTIONS FOR PREVENTING FAMILY SEPARATION

• Inform military personnel and humanitarian workers not to evacuate a child or take him/her to hospital without ensuring that families and caregivers are informed and a caregiver accompanies the child. Ensure that children remaining at home are cared for.

• Document the name and address of any child or parent admitted to the hospital.

• Encourage parents and caregivers to keep track of their children and avoid family separation during movement. Encourage parents and caregivers to teach children their name and place of origin and place identification tags on younger children.

• When a separated child is identified, immediately write down the name and any information available about the missing family and how and where the child became separated. Do not throw away children’s clothing – even if dirty and torn – as clothes can serve as a important identifier for younger children.

• Contact the MRCS, UNICEF, World Vision, Save the Children and Enfants du Monde working with separated children in your areas to help identify the best care options, fully register the child for family tracing and provide regular follow-up. If there is no child protection agency working in the area, contact the appropriate authorities.

• Support agencies undertaking photo-tracing and mass tracing efforts by facilitating community information campaigns. Coordinate with family tracing agencies to set up information booths in easy to reach location for families and children to make inquires and to for registration purposes.

• For developmentally disabled children, babies and younger children who do not know their names and places of origin, inquire among adults and older children around them whether they know the child or his/her family and where the group came from,
before moving the child from the location, unless it is unsafe to keep a child there.

• Encourage and support family-like care for children in need of temporary caregivers over orphanages and other forms of institutional care.

• Informally monitor institutions to ensure adequate care and report any observed or reported concerns to the protection of children cluster working group.

• If you learn of or identify a suspected case of child abuse, neglect or exploitation, immediately refer the case to the child protection agency and/or local child protection focal points in your area.

• Avoid targeted assistance based on blanket categories of children (i.e. separated). Rather, work with the Protection of Children & Women Cluster working group to outline criteria for assistance based on vulnerability to abuse, exploitation and violence.

Note: On May 02-03,2008, Cyclone Nargis entered Burma's delta areas and some areas,including Yangon. By the affect of Cyclone Nargis, many people have been died, homeless, family separtion and up to 40% of children become orphans, seperated children, malnutrition and being neglected by the community. So, they are the most vulnerable for being exploited by those people who want to get benefit from children. Save the children also warn that those children have been faced trafficking,child labor and any kind of exploitation. So, we need to protect them from any danger of exploitation. That's why I post these good tips for everyone who are working closely with the children during the relief process for the victims of disaster.

This is the first time, I mentioned about Cyclone Nargis in Burma (Myanmar) on my blog because I am very concerned about the innocent children's future.