UNICEF: “Six months post tsunami, child protection is just beginning”PHANG-NGA, Thailand, 15 July 2005 – As the tsunami emergency response has moved to mid-term phase, UNICEF urges all stakeholders to rebuild child protection mechanism at all levels to ensure all children, both directly and indirectly affected by the disaster, are protected from further harm. At the “Child Protection in Tsunami Affected Communities: Guiding Principles and Best Practices” workshop organized during 14-20 July in Phang-Nga province, UNICEF praised all stakeholders for their collaborative efforts in mitigating the immediate effects on basic survival, loss of parents or loved ones and mental health issues for approximately 50,000 tsunami-affected children. One praiseworthy example was the concerted effort to ensure children returned to school within the first few weeks following the tsunami. “However, there are often the longer term consequences resulting from a disaster that have a bigger impact on children. The tsunami lasted for a minute, but its impact can last for a lifetime. For many children, the real risks have yet to surface. The job is not over and in many respects our work in child protection is only beginning,” said UNICEF-Thailand Representative Inese Zalitis. She continued, “Changes in family life may present greater risks to children than surviving the tsunami. That’s why we have to plan with children to put in place a strong and coordinated response that focuses on prevention of family separation due to economic and educational reasons and prevention of further neglect, abuse and exploitation against vulnerable children.” In an emergency, children experience higher risks due to a sudden collapse of all protection mechanism existing in the community. At this point in Thailand, increased risks can be observed. These include risks pertaining to loss of livelihood; displacement; loss of parents and caretakers; and fractured community. “Families’ economic loss could pose the greatest risk for children. A loss of more than 100,000 jobs in the tsunami coupled with existing poverty means an increased risk for children. This could lead to higher risks of children dropping out from schools, left unattended because parents need to seek employment opportunities outside the community, or even children being forced into the labour market themselves,” said Brigette de Lay, UNICEF-Thailand’s Emergency Child Protection Officer. “At this point onward, we need to look beyond orphans and begin considering all vulnerable children. We need to look beyond the communities physically affected by the tsunami and include those remote areas that were also economically affected. We have to look at the children of 7,000 displaced families as well as those living in other parts of the country such as the poor region of the Northeast. And we need to look at the migrant children and non-Thai children affected. Long-term child protection should focus on prevention, rather than response,” she added. UNICEF has identified three child protection priorities for tsunami rehabilitation based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Thailand’s Child Protection Act 2003. These are: • Family preservation—to restore and maintain a sense of normalcy, family-based care, or extended family members, is recommended for tsunami-affected children. Economic and educational opportunities should be invested within families and communities in order to prevent future separation of children from families due to poverty and education. Institutional care should be a last resort. • Prevention of further harm to children, which includes capacity building for all people working for and with children. Community monitoring systems are needed. • Establishment and maintaining of ongoing appropriate responses—this should include community involvement with maximum participation possible from children and young people; establishing a standard child protection monitoring system; and building a strong partnership and cooperation from all key actors. Notes to editors UNICEF, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Thammasat University, and Khon Kaen University, organized a workshop on “Child Protection in Tsunami Affected Communities: Guiding Principles and Best Practices” for more than 170 field-based child protection personnel during 14-20 July 2005 in Phang Nga province. The workshop’s objectives are to strengthen local capacity in protecting children from further emergency-related harms; to build a network of child protection personnel working in the tsunami-affected areas; and to provide a forum to share and exchange experience and knowledge concerning child protection. For more information, please contact
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