UNICEF publishes advice on protecting refugee children from trafficking and exploitation
UNICEF issues guidance on protecting unaccompanied children for volunteers at Ukraine’s borders, a new report investigates the deaths of low-paid migrant workers in the Gulf, and U.S Customs seizes four shipments of palm oil allegedly produced with forced labour.
Children are in danger of trafficking, exploitation and abuse, both inside and outside Ukraine’s borders, according to multiple news outlets. In response to the issue, UNICEF has issued guidance for protecting refugee children, who make up around half of the nearly 3 million people who have fled the country so far – many of them unaccompanied or separated from their families. The guidance states that children could be in danger of human trafficking, child labour, sexual exploitation, illegal adoption and aggravated smuggling, and that displaced girls in particular are at risk of gender-based violence.
As people move to and through neighboring countries, they may find it difficult to identify trustworthy help. Volunteers have turned out in their thousands to support refugees and guide them to protection, but this also provides cover for violent and unlawful groups. Traffickers may pose as helpers, taking advantage of the confusion and chaos at borders as well as refugees’ exhaustion and distress, and unaccompanied children are therefore particularly vulnerable.
Nearly 100,000 children in Ukraine were living in residential care or boarding schools when war broke out, half of whom have disabilities. Although these institutions are seeking to move children to safety, those without parental care are at heightened risk of trafficking, violence, abuse and exploitation, and the risks multiply as they move across borders. It is critical that the consent of relatives or legal guardians be granted and that moving children out of danger does not hinder the prospect of family reunification in the future, according to the UNICEF advice. Under no circumstances should families be separated as a result of relocation or evacuation movements.
UNICEF has published a set of protection guidelines for unregistered volunteers to follow if they encounter a lone child. These include: staying with the child and verifying that they are truly separated from their family; staying with the child if the child’s caregiver cannot be identified; asking them or those around them for any information, such as their name, age, hometown and family details, that may help authorities with family tracing and reunification; contacting a competent authority, such as the local municipality government, border police, Ukraine’s consular services in the host country, or officials from UNICEF; and not leaving the child until they are in safe hands – volunteers should not, under any circumstance, leave the child with another volunteer or accept help from a volunteer who offers to escort the child to safety, says the guidance.
Together with UNHCR, UNICEF also urges all neighboring and impacted countries to ensure the immediate identification and registration of unaccompanied and separated children after allowing them access to their territory. Temporary foster or other community-based care through a government system offers critical protection, and every effort should be made to reunify children with their families when possible (if that is in the child’s best interest).
To protect all children from exploitation and abuse, states should offer safe spaces for families immediately following border crossings, and link these to national child protection systems. The capacity of emergency care arrangements with screened caregivers, as well as other critical services for the protection of children, should also be expanded, including family tracking and reunification mechanisms, and protection against gender-based violence.
UNICEF is scaling up its “Blue Dots” system in Moldova, Romania, Poland and Belarus to protect children on the move – Blue Dots are safe spaces along migration routes that provide children and families with critical information and services, and identify and register lone children and connect them to protection services. Meanwhile, Missing Children Europe has set up a page with information on how to report a missing Ukrainian child, a list of missing Ukrainian children, and resources to support missing children and their families.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
A coalition of organizations last week issued a report on the deaths of low-paid migrant workers in Gulf States. Vital Signs: The Deaths of Migrants in the Gulf found that as many as 10,000 migrant workers from south and southeast Asia die every year in the six states of the Gulf Cooperative Council, with more than half of those deaths effectively unexplained, and called on governments in countries of origin and the Gulf to take urgent steps to reduce this number.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized four shipments of palm oil in Baltimore in recent weeks, due to information indicating that it was manufactured by forced labour. The shipments are valued at nearly US$2.5 million and all four were produced in Malaysia.
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has stated that eight out of 1,000 workers in the country’s oil palm plantation sector are in forced labour, including private estate and government scheme workers. In his opening speech last week, the chairman stated that forced labour is a serious issue that needs to be addressed with concern and urgency.
This position paper by FLEX highlights the gap in enforcement of sexual harassment protections in the UK workplace and the steps that need to be taken to better protect workers, especially those in low-paid and insecure work. It is based on primary research and case studies collected by FLEX in the cleaning, hospitality and app-based delivery sectors, as well as engagement with academics, frontline migrant organizations and trade unions.
Amazon has continued to work with companies in China accused of using forced labour, despite public warnings about their work practices, according to a report published by Tech Transparency Project. The non-profit watchdog group found that Amazon’s public list of suppliers includes five companies previously linked by journalists and think tank researchers to “labour transfer” programs in China.
Refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong are petitioning the government’s Social Welfare Department to provide cash relief so they can purchase food and other essentials. Currently, refugees can only shop for items using a “food card” at branches of one store, which runs out of supplies daily due to COVID-related panic-buying. Without cash, they cannot purchase food in any other outlet.
USAID Asia CTIP and USAID Thailand CTIP, together with The Remedy Project, are launching anti-human trafficking legal training for practitioners in Thailand. The sessions are taking place on 16 March, 23 March and 30 March, from 3pm to 5pm ICT, through Zoom. Thai/English simultaneous interpretation will be available during the training sessions. Please register using the links above.
On 22 March, Winrock International’s USAID Asia CTIP program and Freedom Collaborative will host a (virtual) roundtable on TIP policies and opportunities for joint advocacy in Asia. We will consider how to improve the overview of relevant anti-trafficking policies across the region, and share successful inter-group advocacy strategies. The roundtable also aims to assess the feasibility of developing an online policy-map/resource to enable the sharing of lessons learned from participants’ past advocacy efforts across Asia. Please register here!
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