The International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have newly developed "Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse Guidelines" for health and psychosocial providers in humanitarian settings - “CCS Guidelines”. The CCS Guidelines are based on global resear...ch and evidence-based field practice, and bring a much-needed fresh and practical approach to helping child survivors, and their families, recover and heal from the oftentimes devastating impacts of sexual abuse. The guidelines walk the reader through the core knowledge, attitude and skill competencies required for service providers to effectively care for children and families affected by sexual abuse. In addition, the guidelines outline how to provide case management and basic psychosocial care for child survivors, as well as best practices for coordinating care.
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This Review summarizes many of the persistent biological alterations associated with childhood maltreatment including changes in neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter systems and pro-inflammatory cytokines in addition to specific alterations in brain areas associated with mood regulation. Finally, I d...iscuss several candidate gene polymorphisms that interact with childhood maltreatment to modulate vulnerability to major depression and PTSD and epigenetic mechanisms thought to transduce environmental stressors into disease vulnerability.
Neuron Review, vol. 89, March 2, 2016 pp.892-909
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Q2: What are the effective interventions for preventing child abuse and its mental health consequences?
In recent years Terre des Hommes Netherlands observed the steady rise of a new form of child sexual exploitation. One that is enabled and fuelled by rapid technological advances, increasing global connectivity, persisting poverty rates, and growing disparity in the global distribution of resources. ...Terre des Hommes Netherlands received alarming signals from collaborating project partners from the Philippines that new commercial child exploitation trades are evolving and spreading parallel to rising global Internet access rates and developments in communications technology.
Webcam child sex tourism is evidently growing, closely related to child prostitution, child trafficking and child abuse. What is not clear however, are the psychological and social consequences of this new phenomenon. To date, no research has been done on the psychosocial consequences of webcam sex for children. The aim of this research is therefore to gain more knowledge on the psychosocial consequences of webcam child sex tourism for children and to give insight into the antecedent factors that play a role.
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Over half a billion children are living in areas with extremely high levels of floods and nearly 160 million children live in areas of high or extremely high droughts. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 26% of the annual 6.6 million deaths of children under five are linked to environ...ment-related causes and conditions. Children are also disproportionately affected by pollution, not only in terms of death rates, but also in terms of cognitive and physical development. This report illustrates that environmental causes also have an impact on whether children are pushed to work and on the kind of work they engage in, the conditions of work, exposure to dangerous toxicants and the risk of exploitation. However, the report raises more questions than it answers as it is one of the first reports addressing the question, how environmental degradation and climate change affect the vulnerability of children towards exploitation.
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The report focuses on several key areas where health outcomes are falling short, and provides insight into ways in which countries can improve the situation for their children and adolescents. Areas in focus include mental health, overweight/obesity and adolescent risk-taking behaviour.
The report ...shows, for example, that:
- mental health remains a neglected subject – only one quarter of countries are collecting data on the number of children treated by a mental health professional;
- half of countries do not regulate the marketing of food to children, despite the fact that childhood obesity rates are high across the Region and physical activity rates are low;
- almost half of countries have no policy that affects the availability of unhealthy foods at school;
- 2 in 5 girls and 1 in 3 boys who are having sex do not protect themselves; and
one third of countries do not offer legal access to contraception without parental consent for those under 18 years of age.
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It is the policy of the GoR to ensure that children’s rights are met through the provision of basic needs and services for all children in the country, and protect them from abuse and exploitation. Children are defined as persons below the age of 18 years and the ICRP covers children from the time... before their birth until they complete the age of 18 years. The Integrated Child Rights Policy of Rwanda is based on seven key themes: Identity and Nationality; Family and Alternative Care; Survival, Health and Standards of Living; Education; Protection; Justice; and Child Participation.
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The guidelines begin with an overview of the determinants of mental health among children and adolescents before reviewing related South African policies and legislation. The document then discusses strategies to build skills among caregivers, teachers and other frontline providers of mental health ...interventions as well as those for counselling professionals. The guidelines conclude by identifying priority areas for mental health services among children and adolescents, including the prevention of child and substance abuse as well as services for those living with intellectual disabilities
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This report documents scores of serious abuses committed against talibé children by Quranic teachers or their assistants in 2017 and 2018, including deaths, beatings, sexual abuse, chaining and imprisonment, and numerous forms of neglect and endangerment. The abuses took place in at least eight of ...Senegal’s 14 administrative regions (Dakar, Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Louga, Saint-Louis, Tambacounda, and Thiès); a Human Rights Watch researcher visited four of these regions: Dakar, Diourbel, Louga and Saint-Louis.
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For over a decade, Senegalese and international journalists, human rights advocates, and child protection experts have documented and denounced the ongoing exploitation, abuse and neglect of children living in many of Senegal’s traditional Quranic schools, or daaras. Thousands of these children, k...nown as talibés, continue to live in conditions of extreme squalor, deprived of adequate food and medical care.
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Despite the increasing population of refugees stuck in protracted situations and our awareness of the vulnerability of children and adolescents growing in up these contexts, relatively little is known about community based child protection mechanisms (CBCPMs) in refugee communities. CBCPMs, defined ...broadly, include all groups or networks that respond to and prevent problems of child protection and vulnerable children. These mechanisms may include family supports, peer group supports, and community groups such as primary and secondary schools, non-formal education and vocational training structures, women’s groups, religious groups, and youth groups, as well as traditional community processes, government mechanisms, and mechanisms initiated by international or domestic non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In diverse contexts, CBCPMs represent front-line, day-to-day efforts to protect children from exploitation, abuse, violence, and neglect and to promote children’s well being. This study, together with a parallel study conducted among the urban refugee population in Uganda, is the first study of CBCPMs undertaken in refugee settings.
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Children in every country, every culture and at every social level face various forms of abuse,
neglect, exploitation and violence1. The abuse takes place at home, in school, in institutions,
at work, in the community, in armed conflict and natural disasters. Much violence against
children, such ...as corporal punishment and sexual abuse, remains legal and socially approved
in many countries. Growing up with violence and abuse seriously affects a child’s development,
dignity, and physical and psychological integrity. Save the Children works to prevent
abuse and neglect from happening, ensure the victims of violence are supported and that
justice is ensured.
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Child protection in emergencies
The prevention of and response to
abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence
against children in emergencies. An
emergency is defined as threatening
condition that requires urgent action.
Emergencies often have devastating
effects on children’s lives. They res...ult in
girls and boys being killed or injured,
becoming orphaned, separated from their
families, being recruited into armed
forces or groups, being sexually abused,
becoming children with disabilities, being
trafficked or, worse, experiencing several
of these at the same time (CPMS).
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Infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, can have a significant impact on children’s and their caregivers’
wellbeing beyond the disease itself. In terms of child protection, there are three main potential
secondary impacts:
- Neglect and lack of parental care.
- Mental health and Psychosocia...l distress.
- Increased exposure to violence, including sexual violence, physical and emotional abuse.
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As this report shows,
reports of child abuse and of children
witnessing violence between their
parents and caregivers have increased.
Ending violence against children is
increasingly within our reach. D
With the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) across Myanmar, many children and caregivers are required to stay in quarantine centres, in isolation and in hospitals, and special attention is needed to ensure children’s rights are protected in these settings. Violence, exploitation, abuse and negle...ct still occurs despite COVID-19 and continuity of the child protection case management system is essential to protect all children, including the most vulnerable. UNICEF’s Child Protection support focuses on mitigating the secondary impacts of physical distancing measures by ensuring children, parents and caregivers continue to have access to child protection services.
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Данная техническая записка, которая подготовлена на основе информации из отчетов на местах, рассматривает
проблемы, с которыми могут сталкиваться дети, по мере то...го как страны внедряют политики карантина и
приказы оставаться дома, чтобы ограничить распространение COVID-19. Затем представлены защитные
стратегии профилактики и реагирования, целью которых является укрепление защиты детей во всех типах
семей.
protecting children from violence, abuse, and neglect in the home
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“All sectors of humanitarian response are critical to providing an adequate and holistic response for children who have survived different types of violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. Following the immediate humanitarian response, all humanitarian sectors have an important contribution to m...ake to the effective rehabilitation and reintegration of child survivors. ‘Mainstreaming’ child protection, or ensuring that child protection considerations inform all aspects of humanitarian action, helps to maximize the child protection impacts of the work that all humanitarians do. ”
How to Use This briefing paper: This briefing paper is a quick reference for Plan International Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) staff on how to engage with other sectors operating in the emergency to ensure that child protection principles and considerations inform all aspects of humanitarian programming in other sectors. While there is child protection mainstreaming guidance for how to work with specific sectors (e.g. WASH, nutrition, distribution) this “All Sectors” briefing note can give CPiE staff the big picture of shared child protection mainstreaming messages that should be conveyed to all sectors. This briefing is aligned with the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and the Sphere Standards, as well as Plan International staff feedback on what actions are the most vital for child protection mainstreaming in other sectors.
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Sexual abuse perpetrated against children is one of the most significant crises of our time. Child sexual abuse is a significant risk factor for children, in common with other forms of child maltreatment. Sexual abuse can have severe short- and long-term consequences on the physical, mental, social,... emotional and economic well-being of children, families and communities. In emergencies, the threat of all forms of child abuse and gender-based violence (GBV), including child sexual abuse, is acute and widespread.
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Produced by UNICEF and IRC, with the support of the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ) and the generous funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse (CCS) Resource Package (Second Editi...on, 2023) is a revision of the original CCS Guidelines and associated Training (First Edition, 2012). The Second Edition offers an up-to-date global technical guidance on providing a model of quality care for children and families affected by sexual abuse in humanitarian settings. The new resources include both revised and content additions based on practitioner feedback, the most recent evidence and learning. In particular, the Guidelines aim to bring a stronger focus on gender inequality, intersectionality, as well as the connections between the best interests of the child and a survivor-centered approach.
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