The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action were jointly launched on Thursday in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs, the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, with the support of UNHCR and UNICEF.
The Minimum Standards (CPMS) were initially developed by The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action in 2012, said a press release here on Thursday.
The CPMS reflect a consensus on what are considered to be appropriate child protection interventions in humanitarian contexts. They establish basic common principles, help improve the quality of programming, strengthen coordination between actors and facilitate advocacy and communication efforts on child protection.
A new edition was developed a year ago, with the inputs of more than 85 organizations, including UNHCR and UNICEF. The revised version makes the CPMS more inclusive and relevant for displacement and refugee contexts.
“I would like to reaffirm our Ministry’s commitment to provide all sorts of support in our capacity to the stakeholders including different government departments, UNs, I/NGOs, local agencies, Media, for their support, collaboration and effective coordination in designing and implementing various interventions for prevention of and response to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence against children,” said Dr. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Additional Secretary, Planning, Development and Statistics, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh.
As a result, the rights of children will be ensured, and they will grow up in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity in Bangladesh, he opined.
Children constitute more than half of the Rohingya refugee population in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.
These standards underscore the importance of strategic cooperation and are designed to ensure adequate responses to the protection needs of children, including children affected by violence and displacement, survivors of sexual violence, unaccompanied and separated children, children in child marriages and children at risk of trafficking and abuse, amongst others., said the release.
“The Minimum Standards will guide us in assessing and developing specific and effective responses to their protection needs,” said Steven Corliss, the UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh.
“Protecting children from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect is not a work of the protection sector only.
Given the multi-faceted nature of the risks children face, all sectors must be involved to ensure predictable, swift and well-planned responses. This set of standards supports this idea,” said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh.
Specific to the launch in Bangladesh, six standards are being promoted and prioritized by UNICEF and UNHCR including; Information Management, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Community Level Approaches, Health and Child Protection, Mental Health and Psychosocial Distress, and Applying Socio-Ecological approaches to child protection programming.
Creating a common understanding of child protection needs and responses in the Bangladesh context is a shared responsibility, while both UNHCR and UNICEF will continue to work hand-in-hand with the Government of Bangladesh, to ensure that no child is left behind.
