Multistakeholder Pledge: Child Rights

Key outcomes

Commitments which form part of this multi-stakeholder pledge will contribute towards increasing children’s non-discriminatory inclusion in and access to quality national and local systems and services to ensure that children are safe and protected, can access education and learning, can integrate and thrive in the communities where they live, and can meaningfully participate in decisions that affect them. This may include:

• Child protection. Addressing barriers in the legal and policy framework to protecting children with specific measures to tackle discrimination based on their displacement status, gender, disability and other forms of diversity; making commitments to predictable multi-year financing for inclusive child protection services; investing in and increasing the capacity of the social service and child protection workforce; strengthening prevention and response services that support refugee, displaced and host community children are exposed to or at risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation, separation and violence.
• Social protection & key services. Ensuring the legal and policy framework, national development plans, budgets and programmes are child-sensitive and inclusive of refugee and displaced children in all their diversity so that children can access social protection and other key services; transitioning to predictable multi-year financing for social protection/ other key services; strengthening national and subnational capacities to plan and deliver services that meet the needs of refugee and displaced children; strengthening linkages between key social services for children, including social protection programmes, health services, child protection and education, including by creating or strengthening referral pathways and case management.
• Protective & inclusive education. Addressing barriers in legal, policy and administrative frameworks to ensure access for refugee and displaced children to national education systems and learning without discrimination on the same terms as the host community; making predictable multi-year financing for refugee and displaced children’s access to the national education system and its integration with child protection provision and other key services; investing in and improving the recruitment, retention and continuous professional development of the education workforce, including refugee and community-based teachers and facilitators; integrating education with key services such as child protection, social protection, MHPSS, and healthcare, including by creating or strengthening referral and case management.
• Empowerment & meaningful child participation. Ensuring that the views of refugee and host community children and young people are systematically used to review, inform and adapt policy and investments, using trusted, safe, confidential and child- and youth-friendly feedback mechanisms; addressing policy, practical and gender-specific barriers to the meaningful engagement and inclusion of children and young people in refugee and host communities; strengthening capacities at subnational and national level to improve the meaningful engagement of refugee and host community children and young people as partners in the design of inclusive laws, policies and solutions; taking targeted actions to raise and respond to children and young people’s voices, views and concerns and mobilizing increased investment in refugee, women-led and youth-led organizations as partners in the response.

Background

As children make up an estimated 41% of the world’s displaced population, it is crucial to prioritise the rights, needs and best interests of children in refugee and displacement situations and their inclusion in national and local systems and services, through specific commitments and concrete actions with and for children. Such commitment takes place both by making specific commitment with and for children and by reviewing all our pledges and refugee responses through a child-rights lens and adapt them accordingly to ensure they address the needs of children, recognising that forced displacement affects children differently depending on their age, gender, disability, and other characteristics.

Pledge description

Our joint pledge with and for children focuses on four areas: Child Protection, Social Protection, Protective and Inclusive Education, and Empowerment and Meaningful Child Participation3. The joint pledge recognises that children’s lives are not siloed into different sectors and considers their needs and rights holistically. It prioritises the inclusion of refugee and displaced children in national and local systems and services to ensure that children are safe and protected, can access education and learning, can integrate and thrive in the communities where they live, and can meaningfully participate in decisions that affect them.

Leadership

• The Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts (co-chaired by Terre des hommes & Save the Children)

Sub-thematic leads

• Child Protection: Initiative in collaboration with UNHCR and the Alliance on Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
• Social Protection: UNICEF in coordination with UNHCR
• Protective and Inclusive Education: Initiative in coordination with Education Alliance and INEE
• Empowerment and Meaningful Child Participation: Save the Children and Terre des Hommes leading on behalf of the Initiative and in coordination with SRSG VAC

Members

UN entities, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, philanthropic foundations, and individual experts (visit the Initiative’s website for more info).

Contact details

Initiative: [email protected] | [email protected]

UNHCR: [email protected] | [email protected]

Calendar

• Mid-June: Initiative second roundtable on pledge for children (Geneva)
• 16 or 19 Oct: Initiative stocktaking / Learning event focusing on priorities (Geneva)