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Internally Displaced ChildrenIDMC Publications:
 State of Neglect: Displaced Children in the Central African Republic (932 kb)
 Global Overview: Internally displaced children (100 kb)
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. Displaced children are recruited by government forces and armed groups, are victims of sexual exploitation, and/or are unable to go to school. In most cases, national governments do not provide much-needed assistance and protection. Violations against displaced children largely continue unimpeded, despite the establishment in several countries of a monitoring system on violations against children in armed conflict, the setting-up of child protection working groups in countries undergoing humanitarian emergencies, 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
Internally displaced children in
Kambakota, northern Central
African Republic (IDMC 2008)
Displaced children were also denied education and health care due to insecurity, the destruction or occupation of schools and hospitals during conflict, or the lack of means to pay for various fees. During conflict and displacement, children and adolescents were also often separated from their families or caretakers, or those who would normally provide them with protection and care. These are the most vulnerable of all displaced children, and are more likely to be exposed to abuse and neglect, including recruitment into armed forces, child trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse.
Sexual violence continues to be a serious and significant part of the violence suffered by displaced children (see Internally Displaced Women page).
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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 and 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 CAR, Colombia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Uganda and 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. Thus far, these commitments have not translated into tangible improvements.
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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 2005 outlining a Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism to be implemented by the UN, in collaboration with governments 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 15 Security Council members reviews and guides the monitoring process.
International initiatives to assist displaced children and to protect their rights also include 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 are undertaken in collaboration with local partners.
Also, since 2008, a Child Protection Working Group (CPWG) brings together NGOs, UN agencies and other international organisations to develop policies, standards, and advocacy strategies for a more effective and accountable child protection response in times of emergencies. The CPWG is part of the global protection cluster. The protection and other clusters are coordination mechanisms used in various emergencies to improve the response to affected populations.
For more information, please contact our IDP children focal points, Greta Zeender and Laura Perez.
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