Child Protection
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© UNICEF Gulf Area Office/Riyadh/2006 |
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Combating Child Trafficking Workshop organized by UNICEF and Naif Arab University |
The child protection programme will address: violations of child protection rights of the most vulnerable and excluded groups of children. UNICEF support will include international expertise, sharing of experiences from the region and beyond, rapid assessments, technical assistance, training and workshops as well as advocacy.
The child protection programme consists of one project:
1. "Vulnerable and Excluded Children Project"
- Past Activities (2004-2006):
- UNICEF, the Saudi National Commission for Childhood, the Arab Bureau for Education in Gulf States and AGFUND jointly organized the first-ever consultative meeting on child abuse. This led to a Royal decree mandating the development of a national strategy for child protection. and official statements of UNICEF & AGFUND
- UNICEF conducted a rapid assessment on children involved in street selling and begging, many of whom are victims of trafficking from an estimated 18 countries, in Mecca, Jeddah and Riyadh, following which, with special funds from UNICEF headquarters, a pilot project was launched with the Al Bir Society of Jeddah to provide services to children removed from exploitative street activities. Around 100 local professionals were also trained in child protection and child rights. Officials and consular officials from source countries were involved to prevent future trafficking and to ensure proper repatriation of the children. Click to read compiled paper
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© Al Bir Society/Jeddah/2006 |
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Children Victims of Trafficking, from around 18 countries, in Mecca, Jeddah, and Riyadh, are at Dar Al-Eiwa'a Center in Jeddah |
- Another first in the region was the co-sponsoring of a major regional workshop on child trafficking, hosted by Naif Arab University for Security Sciences in Riyadh, which concluded with a call for all countries in the region to develop national plans of action against child trafficking. Click to read official statement and concept paper on child trafficking in Saudi Arabia
- UNICEF also convened the first-ever consultation between Saudi Arabia and Yemen on child trafficking from Yemen to Saudi Arabia. Click to read minutes and recommendations, to see video clip, to read press release and official statement. See side bars for countries' presentations.
- Based on the large proportion of deaths and disability among children caused by injuries, in 2005 UNICEF entered into a partnership with the Saudi Red Crescent Society to focus on child injury prevention and jointly convened the first multisectoral consultation on the topic. The next steps agreed upon include a survey to provide information required to design interventions and a public communication and education strategy to be linked with activities for better parenting, the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) and the promotion of healthy lifestyles among adolescents. click to read memorandum of understanding
- As a response to the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF supported the drafting of national strategies and plans of action for children in Saudi Arabia.
- Planned Activities for (2007-2009):
1. “Vulnerable and Excluded Children Project”
UNICEF support will include international expertise, sharing of experiences from the region and beyond, rapid assessments, technical assistance, training and workshops as well as advocacy for:
- Establishing capacity for rapid assessments of specific violations of child protection rights
- Establishing capacity to analyse and respond to specific violations of child protection rights
- Establishing early warning systems in order to prevent specific violations of child protection rights
- Improving of laws, policies and mechanisms to detect and report child abuse
- Developing referral systems for counselling and rehabilitation of children abused
- Continuous capacity building of relevant institutions engaged in the prevention, identification, and protection of children victims of specific violations of child protection rights.
- Developing a monitoring mechanism against the use of children in camel racing
- Enhancing the use of pilot projects as a way of replication of best practices on a national scale
- Awareness raising campaigns about issues such as child abuse, child labour, domestic violence, etc.
