Adults have a responsibility to protect children, yet millions of children around the world experience abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence. These violations of children’s rights must stop
Protecting the rights of the most vulnerable children
Our child protection priorities are: children without family support; refugee, migrant and trafficked children; and protection of children in emergency situations. From 2011 we will also prioritise child labour. We work and advocate at community, national and international levels to improve children’s lives. By involving children themselves, we increase awareness of their key concerns, which makes our programmes more relevant.
Maribel Vega Laguna, left, asks Janeth Hernadez Laguna about the health of her daughter Grindis Laguna Hernandez, 5 months, using laminated cards which guide her through a series of questions as part of Save the Children's Community Case Management Program in Los Limones, Nicaragua. Rohanna Mertens / Save the Children
Children usually do best when living with their families. In 2010 we reunited more than 1,000 children who lived in institutions in Liberia and Sri Lanka with their families, or placed them in other forms of appropriate care. To share our expertise, we conducted pan-Asian training on supporting children who lack appropriate care.
Children in emergencies often face physical and psychological violence. We use our experience of supporting these children to influence global policy and practice. We have developed a Psychological First Aid Tool Kit for working with children in emergencies.
With the Global Movement for Children, we organised an international conference on ‘Children on the Move’, attended by leading experts. This resulted in an agreement among aid agencies that we should focus on protecting all children who move, instead of just child trafficking. This will benefit millions of vulnerable children.
