Overview of content:
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
As COVID-19 pandemic continues, forcibly displaced children need more support than ever
The Resilience Guide: Strategies for Responding to Trauma in Refugee Children
MANUAL for promoting mental health of affected children: With accent on refugees’/migrants’ children
Improving children’s well being: An evaluation of NRC’s Better Learning Programme in Palestine
Health of refugee and migrant children: Technical guidance
Action for refugee children: Good practices that bring the Global Refugee Compact to life
UNICEF calls for six actions to protect all refugee and migrant children
Brain Builders: How a child’s brain develops through early experiences (YouTube video)
Storytellers brighten lives of refugee children on corona virus lockdown
Download the HHRI GBV manual
Dear friends and colleagues,
Around the world, millions of children and families have had to flee their homes from conflict, persecution, disaster and extreme poverty. According to UNHCR, over half of the world’s refugees are children, or minors below the age of 18, and UNICEF states that 31 million children worldwide were displaced by the end of 2018. Moreover, refugee children are 5 times more likely not to have access to school than other children, and many lack access to essential health care. Children in refugee camps often live in dire conditions, lacking basic needs such as hygiene, sanitation, safety, food and clean drinking water. Many may have witnessed, or experienced, severe violence and they may be at risk of neglect, abuse, exploitation, trafficking or military recruitment. Some children do not have adults they can trust alongside themselves and they flee and seek protection elsewhere as unaccompanied minors.
Many children and their families live with a range of different reactions that may be consequences of traumatic experiences. Such reactions or symptoms can be nightmares, feeling anxious or depressed, feeling agitated and restless, physical pain, an inability to focus and concentrate, or losing hope for the future, among others. The lack of stability and routine in daily life that many refugee and migrant children face make it even more difficult to cope and recover from trauma. Often there is no psycho social support available to them due to the situation that these children and their families find themselves in.
Despite all these challenges, children are resilient. Not all children exposed to potentially traumatic events will develop serious mental health conditions. Knowing about protective factors that can help children recover and cope is important. Being able to mobilize such factors represents a hopeful approach, that may open for practical and adequate support.
We can divide protective factors into two groups: 1) those related to characteristics of the child and 2) those related to characteristics of the environment. Children can draw strength from protective factors within themselves as well as from their families and the community within which they live. Important protective factors that caregivers and helpers can influence include:
- Help the child to feel like a worthy person
- Allow the child to express itself creatively and through play
- Allow the child to learn new things and explore his or her skills, thereby providing the child with a sense of mastery
- Provide the child with an experience of having an influence in their own lives
- Provide the child with a feeling of meaning and a sense of coherence in his or her daily life
- Make sure that there are some routines, structure and boundaries in the daily life of the child
- Make sure that there is at least one adult person that the child can trust and feel that she or he really cares about the child
- Respect the child and his or her physical and psychological integrity
Children need stability, security and the possibility to learn, play and explore their skills for their cognitive, emotional and social development. Children need to be loved and cared for.
In Health and Human Rights Info (HHRI) we are currently working on responding to the need for more specific information on children exposed to sexual violence in contexts of instability and how we can provide psychosocial support to these children and their caregivers. The new project has been developed together with experts in the field of child psychology, trauma and humanitarian work. Clinical psychologist and expert in the field of resilience in children, Helen Christie, was initiative-taker to the project and is leading it together with HHRI’s Executive Director, Elisabeth Ng Langdal. Further update on this project will be provided.
Below we have gathered publications and information in English about refugee children focusing on the following:
- The rights of the child as these are laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- The urgent need to protect refugee children during the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic;
- The importance of a strong awareness on refugee children’s mental health and well-being including interventions and strategies to provide psychosocial support and promoting resilience.
We have also included information from UNHCR and UNICEF on their work with refugee children, as well as a positive story from Madrid, Spain, where volunteers record bedtime stories that are sent to Spanish speaking refugee children, by UNHCR.
Further reading
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
United Nations 1989
First, we believe it is highly valuable to remind ourselves of articles 9, 22, 24, 28 and 39 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child which state the following:
Article 9 The right not to be separated from the parents
Article 22 The right to seek asylum and to receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance as a refugee
Article 24 The right of access to health care
Article 28 The right to education
Article 39 The right to physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of child victims of any form of neglect, exploitation or abuse: torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflict, which should take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.
As COVID-19 pandemic continues, forcibly displaced children need more support than ever
UNHCR 20 April 2020
Joint statement by Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, and Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Millions of children around the world have been driven from their homes and across borders by conflict, violence and other forms of harm – including 12.7 million refugees and 1.1 million asylum seekers. With the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the needs of refugee children have become even more acute. Meeting those needs is key to safeguarding both their wellbeing today and future potential. Displaced children are among those with the most limited access to prevention services, testing, treatment and other essential support. In addition, the pandemic and containment measures are likely to have negative consequences for their safety and education, which were precarious even before the outbreak of the disease.”
The Resilience Guide: Strategies for Responding to Trauma in Refugee Children
Supporting Child Care in the Settlement Community, CMAS
2018, author Heather Savazzi
“This practical guide is developed for practitioners and professionals working directly with families and children who have experienced forced migration. The guide focuses on the Canadian context, but much of the theory, principles and methods can be applied in work with children with a refugee experience in other countries and contexts. The guide includes information about refugee trauma, potential developmental effects, and key strategies that foster the resilience of children and families. The guide also includes tip sheets filled with practical strategies that are designed to be taken straight off the page and put into practice.”
MANUAL for promoting mental health of affected children: With accent on refugees’/migrants’ children
UNICEF 2017, author Chamber of Psychologists by Marijana Markovikj and Eleonora Serafimovska
“This manual is aimed at promoting the mental health of children under risk and providing psychosocial care in facilities accommodating persons under risk. It was developed from the project entitled: “Capacity building for providing psychological interventions and resilience of professional staff in Transit Centres to refugees and migrant children.” The project was funded and supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (“UNICEF”) and implemented by the Chamber of Psychologists of the Republic of Macedonia. The main objective of the project was: “to equip front line workers, including psychologists and social workers working in Transit Centres, with tools and skills how to provide targeted psychological interventions through group and/or individual work”. This manual is intended to serve as a guide for psychologists and/or psychotherapists engaged as helpers who (will) work with affected people1 in relief assistance facilities. The manual can also be useful for social workers, teachers and health workers.”
Improving children’s wellbeing: An evaluation of NRC’s Better Learning Programme in Palestine
Norwegian Refugee Council, NRC January 2017
“The Better Learning Programme (BLP) aims to improve learning conditions for children and adolescents exposed to war and conflict in Palestine. The Better Learning Programme consists of two components: BLP 1 reaches out to all pupils and provides psycho-education and coping skills, while BLP 2 is a specialised intervention for those with chronic symptoms of traumatic stress. Both components combine a psychosocial and trauma-focused approach. The psychosocial support offered in both components aims: (1) to establish a sense of stability and safety; (2) to promote calming and a capacity for self-regulation; (3) to increase community and self-efficacy, including where to find support and how to give and receive support; and (4) to promote mastery and hope.”
In addition to the evaluation report, an interview with Professor Jon-Håkon Schultz who led the development of NRC’s work for children with trauma can be read here.
it’s easier to ask ‘How are you doing?Have you had a nightmare?
Do you do the exercises?’”
(Professor Jon-Håkon Schultz)
WHO Regional Office for Europe 2018
“The objective of this technical guidance is to inform national and local health policy regarding health care for newly arrived refugee and migrant children. This grouping encompasses children aged 0–18 years who are asylum seekers, in an irregular situation or in the first two years after obtaining residency in the country of reception. The guidance, therefore, focuses on the initial health care response to the needs of these children.
The guidance includes information on mental health and psychological well-being and describes different areas for intervention and as well as policy considerations focusing on health promotion strategies and public health strategies.”
UNICEF December 2019
“Every refugee crisis is a children’s crisis. More than half of the 25.9 million refugees worldwide are under the age of 18. Refugee boys and girls are uniquely vulnerable: because they are children, because they are uprooted, because they have experienced or witnessed violence. These vulnerabilities put them at risk of more violence, abuse, exploitation and discrimination. However, refugee children should not only be defined by their vulnerabilities. They are strong and resilient. They are determined to thrive, and their potential is limitless. They are not alone. In the Global Compact on Refugees, governments and stakeholders around the world have committed to make sure no refugee girl or boy is left behind.
The brochure includes information on education and learning, the importance of early childhood development, and protection of refugee children from violence, exploitation and abuse, among others.”
UNICEF
As part of the UNICEF ‘s Agenda for Action and the Children uprooted campaign, UNICEF calls for six actions to protect all refugee and migrant children. These six action points are:
1. Press for action on the causes that uproot children from their homes
2. Help uprooted children to stay in school and stay healthy
3. Keep families together and give children legal status
4. End the detention of refugee and migrant children by creating practical alternatives
5. Combat xenophobia and discrimination
6. Protect uprooted children from exploitation and violence
“This ‘Brain Builders’ video explains how experiences in the first years of our lives affect how our brains form. Science tells us that the stress of abuse or neglect can damage the basic structures of a child’s developing brain. Without the right help, it can put them at risk of a lifetime of health problems, developmental issues and addiction. It’s up to us to make sure that children overcome these stresses and have the nurturing experiences they need for positive development.”
UNHCR 23 April 2020
“Volunteers in Spain are recording bedtime stories to share with children in reception centres via WhatsApp in a UNHCR-backed project. Life in lockdown for COVID-19 is tough, but for Rosalina, an asylum-seeker from Venezuela, it is particularly hard. She and her three children – 8, 12 and 14 years old – share a single room at a reception centre in Madrid. She finds it difficult to keep them occupied and entertained.”
All manuals can be downloaded from the MHHRI website
There are three different manuals, which respectively address working with women, with boys and men, and with children who have experienced sexual violence.
The manuals are translated into several languages. The page numbers in each manual remain the same across languages. This allows survivors and helpers to work from copies in their preferred language and read the same content on the same pages. It also makes it easier to teach participants when participants and trainers work in more than one language. The manuals include a toolbox. Survivors can use it individually to regulate their own emotions through grounding exercises or in collaboration with a helper. Helpers can also use grounding exercises to take care of themselves as helpers.
We appreciate feedback and comments
Welcome to our new subscribers, we hope you will find our content useful. The Mental Health and Human Rights Info Newsletter is a newsletter with the aim to provide insight on a certain subject across the scope of our work; human rights violations in war and conflict areas and mental health. Our intention is to deliver a newsletter as a short “lecture” where you can find relevant information regarding a specific subject from a mental health perspective. You will receive our newsletter 5 times a year.
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Sincerely yours,
Take care – and we are wishing you all the best.
Sincerely yours,
Mental Health and Human Rights Info teampost@hhri.orgwww.hhri.org