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Internally Displaced ChildrenIDMC Publications:
 Still at Risk: Internally Displaced Children’s Rights in north-west Pakistan (890 kb)
 State of Neglect: Displaced Children in the Central African Republic (932 kb)
 Global Overview: Internally displaced children (100 kb)
Displaced children are among the most vulnerable members of many societies, at increased risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Displacement exacerbates poverty, and frequently causes the breakdown of family and community structures and the disintegration of traditional social norms. Displaced children often lack access to basic necessities such as shelter and food, and their education can be disrupted or terminated. Displaced children become increasingly at risk of forced labor, forced marriage, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups.
In most cases, national governments do not provide sufficient 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.
Rights violations
Internally displaced children in
Kambakota, northern Central
African Republic (IDMC, 2008)
Displaced children suffer from poor access to education or disruptions of education (in many countries including DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan, and the Philippines), and lack access to shelter, healthcare, and nutrition. During conflict and displacement, children are 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.”
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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 provision of humanitarian assistance (including shelter, nutrition, and healthcare), family tracing and reintegration activities, medical, psychosocial and legal assistance to survivors of sexual violence, advocacy for the release of children associated with armed forces and groups, demobilisation, and mine awareness-raising, as well as the rehabilitation of schools that have been attacked, the provision of school materials, advocacy for expansion of school facilities and programmes to provide for displaced children, and the establishment of “child-friendly spaces” to give children a safe space to play. 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 – including the Education Cluster – are coordination mechanisms used in various emergencies to improve the response to affected populations.
For more information, please contact our Child Rights Advisor, Alice Farmer, or our IDP child focal point, Greta Zeender.
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