Children experience insidious forms of violence, exploitation and abuse. It happens in every country, and in the places children should be most protected – their homes, schools and online. Violence against children can be physical, emotional or sexual. And in many cases, children suffer at the hands of the people they trust.
Children in humanitarian settings are especially vulnerable. During armed conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies, children may be forced to flee their homes, some torn from their families and exposed to exploitation and abuse along the way. They risk injury and death. They may be recruited by armed forces. Especially for girls and women, the threat of gender-based violence soars.
Harmful cultural practices pose another grave risk in various parts of the world. Hundreds of millions of girls have been subjected to child marriage and female genital mutilation – even though both are internationally recognized human rights violations.
No matter the circumstance, every child has the right to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse. Child protection systems connect children to vital social services and fair justice systems – starting at birth. They provide care to the most vulnerable, including children uprooted by conflict, poverty and disaster; victims of child labour or trafficking; and those who live with disabilities or in alternative care. Above all, protecting children means protecting their physical, mental and psychosocial needs to safeguard their futures.
UNICEF works in more than 150 countries to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse. We partner with governments, businesses, civil-society organizations and communities to prevent all forms of violence against children, and to support survivors, including with mental health and psychosocial services. Our efforts strengthen child protection systems to help children access vital social services, from birth through adolescence.
During a humanitarian crisis, we provide leadership and coordination for all actors involved in the response. Our programming focuses on protecting children from explosive weapons and remnants of war; reunifying separated children with their families; releasing and reintegrating children associated with armed groups; preventing and addressing gender-based violence; and safeguarding children from sexual exploitation and abuse. We also work with United Nations partners to monitor and report grave violations of children’s rights in armed conflict.
Alongside communities, we accelerate the elimination of harmful practices, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.
We also support governments with policy, legislation and regulatory frameworks that give more children access to vital social services and justice.
Throughout all we do, we listen to young people to ensure their needs drive our programming and advocacy. Our initiatives support parents and caregivers, and build alliances at the local and global levels to leverage knowledge, raise awareness and encourage action.
Protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse
UNICEF programming to prevent and respond to the sexual exploitation and abuse of children by aid workers.
In areas affected by conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies, people trust aid workers to assist and protect them.
The vast majority do so with professionalism and integrity. But some aid workers abuse their position of power through the sexual exploitation and abuse of those who depend on them, including children. These acts are unacceptable and violate criminal laws.
Sexual exploitation refers to any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, perpetrated by aid workers against the children and families they serve. Sexual abuse is the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions, perpetrated by aid workers against the children and families they serve.
When a child is subjected to related misconduct at the hands of someone other than an aid worker, this is defined as sexual violence. Sexual violence against children occurs in every country, across all segments of society.
Women and children in emergency settings face the greatest risk of sexual exploitation and abuse. High levels of need resulting from scarce resources, food shortages or economic insecurity can intensify the power imbalance in emergency settings, raising the possibility of sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian aid workers on whom communities depend, or by peacekeepers providing protection.
Humanitarian assistance programmes should be designed and delivered not only to mitigate the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, but to provide the necessary response when abuse occurs.
Every year, UNICEF and partners respond to emergencies around the world, with thousands of aid workers contributing to the delivery of vital programmes for children affected by conflict, natural disasters and other crises.
Keeping children and adults safe from potential sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers requires action across UNICEF – by training personnel, vetting partners and providing immediate response when abuse does occur. UNICEF takes an organization-wide approach to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, in which child protection workers play a critical role, together with investigators, human resource and ethics personnel, and others.
Our priority is ensuring that children and women are protected from sexual exploitation and abuse, and that victims are provided with the support and protection they need.
UNICEF co-chaired a process to develop a common United Nations (UN) set of standards and services for survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Victim Assistance Protocol, which outlines the core principles, standards, roles and responsibilities of UN entities and their partners to promptly refer and provide assistance to survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse. We also led a process to strengthen the United Nations approach to sexual exploitation and abuse involving implementing partners.
From 2018 to 2019, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore served as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Champion for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Under Executive Director Fore’s leadership, IASC members, including UNICEF, developed and endorsed the IASC Plan for Accelerating Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Response at Country Level.
In line with the plan, UNICEF has scaled up investment to accelerate results for children and adults in three global priority areas:
The IASC Acceleration Plan is adapted within individual countries to meet the specific needs and context of the humanitarian response. Under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator and Humanitarian Country Teams, UNICEF and partners are tracking progress to deliver on priority outcomes. The results achieved during Executive Director Fore’s Championship can be found in this report, and more information on UNICEF’s work with IASC is available here.
