Minimum Standards for Child Protection and the
UNHCR Framework for Protection of Children
1.
What are the Minimum Standards and
Framework for the Protection of Children?
2.
What are they used for and how?
3.
Principle similarities
4.
Linkages and comparisons
Minimum Standards for Child Protection in
Humanitarian Action
Overview:
Intended to cover gaps and support child protection work in humanitarian settings.
• Establish common principles amongst those working in child protection, and to
strengthen coordination between them
• Improve quality of child protection programming, and its impact for children
• Improve accountability
• Further define the professional field of child protection
• Provide a synthesis of good practice and learning to date
• Enable better advocacy and communication on child protection risks, needs and
responses.
Minimum Standards for Child Protection in
Humanitarian Action
How are the Minimum Standards used?
•
Plan and cost humanitarian interventions
•
Establish common and measureable expectations regarding scope & quality of child protection
services provided to children, their families and communities
•
Establish agreement on common principles between different actors, such as the different
members of Child Protection coordination mechanism
•
Motivate and enable those working in other sectors of humanitarian action to protect children
better.
•
Guide and evaluate quality and effectiveness of humanitarian interventions
•
Induct and train new staff or partners
•
As a self-learning tool and reference text
•
Enable advocacy on CP issues
•
M&E
CPMS in refugee settings
•
CPMS is not developed specifically for refugee situations – but
should guide UNHCR CP emergency response
•
Complements UNHCR specific child protection guidance (e.g. BID
guidance, CP Framework etc.)
•
Does not address specific issues relating to children in refugee
procedures (e.g. registration, RSD, durable solutions) - for these
procedures specific UNHCR guidance applies.
•
Developed for emergencies, but can also serve as a guide for
protracted situations
Similar Guiding Principles
The Framework
Minimum Standards
-Accountability
-
Assist people to claim their rights,
access available remedies and
recover from the effects of abuse
-
Avoid Exposing people to further
harm as a result of your actions
-
Ensure people’s access to impartial
assistance
-
Strengthen child protection
systems
-
Protect people from physical &
psychological harm arising from
violence and coercion
-
Strengthen children’s resilience in
humanitarian action
-Family and community based
approach
-Do no harm
-Non-discrimination
-Age, Gender and diversity
-Best interests of the child
-Partnership
-State responsibility
- Urgency
-Child participation
*Colors correlate to similarities in principles.*
A Framework for the Protection of Children
Broadens UNHCR’s understanding of and engagement in the protection of children. The
Framework articulates 6 goals and offers guidance on how to achieve them.
The Six Goals are:
1.
Girls and boys are safe where they live, learn
and play
2.
Children’s participation and capacity are
integral to their protection
3.
Girls and boys have access to child-friendly
procedures
4.
Girls and boys obtain legal documentation
5.
Girls and boys with specific needs receive
targeted support
6.
Girls and boys achieve durable solutions in
their best interests
 Broader scope of Child Protection
A broad ‘rights-based approach’ focuses on ensuring protection for all
children of concern rather than focusing more narrowly on specific
categories of children.
 State Responsibility
States are primarily responsible for the protection of children:
they need to establish and implement child protection systems in
accordance with their international obligations, ensuring nondiscriminatory access to all children under their jurisdiction.
 Child Protection Systems
The Framework applies a child protection systems approach that
includes actions for duty bearers at all levels – family, community,
national and international – to mitigate and respond to the protection
risks children are facing.
 Prevention and Response
Establish mechanisms which prevent and respond to children’s
protection risks, including referral pathways to child-sensitive health,
psychosocial and care services.
A Framework for the Protection of Children
Promotes a systems approach supports the comprehensive protection of children:
-
Legal and policy framework
Coordination
Prevention and response activities
Knowledge and data
Human and financial capacities
Human and financial capacities
Advocacy and awareness raising
Framework applies a child protection systems approach that includes actions for duty
bearers at all national and international levels including family and community.
Assists in the mitigation and response to the protection risks children are facing.
Recognizes that all actors contribute to the comprehensive protection of children.
Monitoring implementation of the CPMS
• UNHCR has standard pre-set indicators for all programme
areas, including child protection.
(Outlined in the Results Based Management framework)
• Many Child Protection indicators are closely aligned with
the CPMS indicators.
• Field level partnership agreements (‘IP agreements’) can
include additional indicators, including CPMS indicators.
Indicator linkages
Unaccompanied and Separated Children
Framework: Goal 5 – Targeted support for children with specific needs:
Framework: Goal 6 – Children receive durable solution in their best
interests:
- % of registered UASC in appropriate interim or long-term alternative
care
- % of UASC for whom a best interest process has been initiated or
completed
- % of UASC for whom tracing has reached an outcome (either positive
or negative)
Unaccompanied and Separated Children
Minimum Standards: Standard 13- Unaccompanied and Separated
Children:
- Surveillance systems and services are in place to prevent
unnecessary separations
- % of registered UASC in appropriate and protective case
arrangements
- % of registered UASC in appropriate interim or long-term
alternative care
- % of registered unaccompanied children in long term alternative
care who are receiving monitoring visits at least once a month
Reunification
Framework: Goal 5 – Targeted support for children with specific needs:
Framework: Goal 6 – Children receive durable solution in their best
interests:
- Coordination with ICRC and other partners on family reunification
established
Reunification
Minimum Standards: Standard 13- Unaccompanied and Separated
Children:
- Mechanisms in place for registration and receiving information
and for active tracing of immediate family members and relatives
- # of family contacts restored between separated family members
- % of children who have received at least one follow-up visit
within one month of being reunited with caregivers
- # of persons of concern provided with information on family
reunification procedures
- % of registered UASC who are reunited with their caregivers
- SOPs for family reunification established or reflected in generic SOPs
- % of children registered for tracing that has been reunified and
stayed with their family for more than 6 months
Note: Indicators are from UNHCRs Results Framework for 2014
Indicator linkages
Sexual Violence
Framework: Goal 5 – Targeted Support
for children with specific needs:
-
-
-
# of instances reported and verified
by UNHCR of rape or other forms of
sexual violence against children
committed by armed groups/armed
forces
Minimum Standards: Standard 9 - Sexual
Violence:
-
# of reported incidents of SGBV per
year (note: indicator not specific to
children)
-
# of partner, government and UNHCR
staff trained on SGBV prevention and
response (note: indicator not specific
to children)
-
There is a thorough understanding of
how sexual violence is viewed by
families and communities before
programming
% of projects and initiatives dealing
with sexual violence that are clearly
involving other sectors
# of social workers, law-enforcement
staff and health-service providers
trained on child-appropriate
responses to sexual violence
Education
Goal 1 – Children are safe where they
live, learn and play:
Minimum Standards: Standard 20 –
Education and CP:
-
# of children with specific needs
enrolled in school
-
-
% of schools with a policy to use
positive discipline methods (noncorporal punishment)
% of boys and girls of different ages
(including those w/disabilities) able
to access schools and other learning
opportunities
-
% of schools that enforce a teacher
code of conduct that has been
developed in a participatory way
% of active-duty educators trained
on child protection threats and
strategies to tackle threats
-
% of formal and informal education
environments that are regularly
monitored with the aim of deciding
whether both girls and boys are
protected from abuse, neglect,
exploitation and violence in that
environment.
-
-
Recruitment
Framework: Goal 5 – Targeted
Support for children with specific
needs:
-
-
-
Measures to identify and minimize
forced recruitment implemented
# of cases of recruitment or use of
children by armed groups/armed
forces reported and deemed
credible by UNHCR
Measures to identify and minimize
forced recruitment implemented
Minimum Standards: Standard 11–
CAAFAG:
Harmful Practices
Goal 1 – Children are safe where they live,
learn and play:
-
-
-
% of targeted communities where
80% of those surveyed can describe
commonly agreed strategies to
prevent and report child recruitment
% of humanitarian workers surveyed
who demonstrate a clear
understanding of how to identify %
report cases of child recruitment and
use
Note: Indicators are from UNHCRs Results Framework for 2014
Extent persons of concern have access
to national education systems (note:
this indicator is specific to UNHCR)
Extent girls and boys are protected
against harmful practices
Note: This indicator defines harmful
practices as “practices that are
detrimental to the health, safety, and
development of children. These
harmful practices include but are not
limited domestic violence against
children, physical and sexual abuse,
corporal punishment, female genital
mutilation (FGM), early or forced
marriage...”
Minimum Standards: Standard 8–
Physical Violence and Harmful
Practices:
-
Strategies to prevent and respond to
physical violence and harmful
practices are incorporated into
emergency-response programming
-
# of campaigns with key messages on
physical violence and harmful
practices
-
% of project proposals on CP that
include information on local
attitudes to physical violence and
harmful practices in the affected
communities.
A Framework for the Protection of Children
Core comparisons:
The Framework and Minimum Standards both:
- Have key actions and guidance notes associated with goals/indicators
- Take on a more holistic approach to child protection, involving
multiple actors than simply focusing on individual child.
- Could be used as tools to guide decision-making and reference
- Address the needs of the child as the fundamental goal