With a growing number of developing countries releasing children from detention as a preventive measure for COVID-19, how can we support all countries to do the same?
Releasing girls and boys from detention is a public health priority and a key prevention measure for COVID-19 for the simple reason that the pandemic spreads much more rapidly in confined spaces. New variants of the virus appear to be more infectious and are infecting younger adults and children at higher levels than previous mutations. And while vaccines may provide a bridge to a post COVID-19 world, for some people in some countries, in the meantime, prevention remains the priority. This means keeping children out of high-risk environments such as detention facilities.
A growing call to classify gender-based violence services and child protection services as essential services and to invest in them: Child Protection in the age of COVID-19
Given the mounting evidence that COVID-19 is leading to increased violence against women and children it is well past time for the big international aid agencies to immediately classify gender-based violence (GBV) services and child protection services as essential services. While this classification from non-essential to essential would not be a full fix to a historical problem based on structural inequalities between women and men and adults and children, it would usher in a number of dynamic changes: Funding, scale and quality would be achieved which in turn would lead to a reduction in violence, which after all is central to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, 2030.
Economic stimulus packages, NGOs and protecting children from harm: Child Protection in the age of COVID-19
International NGOs are at the forefront of efforts to protect children from harm in developing countries, yet, COVID-19 is posing a real threat to their very existence. With the wealthiest countries investing more than $8 trillion in economic stimulus packages, is it too much to ask that these packages do more to bolster the work of these NGOs?
Five strategies for protecting children in detention: Child Protection in the age of COVID-19
The right to personal liberty is one of the most enduring and important of all human rights, yet every year more than 400,000 children Worldwide are held in detention in juvenile detention facilities and prisons. Releasing girls and boys from detention is a public health priority for COVID-19, for the simple reason that the pandemic will most likely spread much more rapidly in confined spaces, whether they be nursing homes for the elderly; orphanages for the young; prisons for adult male and female offenders; or detention facilities for child offenders…
Child Protection in the Age of COVID-19: What is the Data Telling Us?
COVID-19 … we know that adults of parenting age are dying, we know that these deaths create orphans and we know that children who become orphaned are at heightened risk of a ranger of protection violations. This of course is one of the many lessons we learned, and are continuing to learn, from the AIDS crisis which, as of 2018, had resulted in just under 15 million orphans…