Defence for Children International has acted at the international, regional, and local levels to ensure children are not left behind in the pandemic response. This page gathers resources on the impact of COVID-19 on children’s rights. The resources below will be regularly updated.
OUR key activities
DCI webinar on COVID-19 impact on children Deprived of Liberty.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
DCI PRESS-RELEASE ON COVID-19
REPONSES FROM DCI NATIONAL SECTIONS
DCI-Argentina
DCI Argentina has gathered international experts and representatives of the project #TejiendoRedesInfancia co-financed by the European Union, with the first of a series of Dialogues on the Protection of child rights in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Activities were implemented based on sustaining the bond, preventing social isolation measures provided as health measures from affecting the mental health of children and their families. It intervened in the chaos in which the security forces, under the pretext of imposing compliance with the isolation measures, proceeded with institutional violence. The management of the La Poderosa organization was supported for its soup kitchens and popular picnic areas, acting as facilitators and guarantors in an agreement with Unicef Argentina.
Full recording of the webinar is available here.
DCI-Costa Rica produced a lot of materials concerning COVID-19 and children:
DCI-Costa Rica
DCI-Colombia
DCI-Colombia signed a letter to call on for the protection of the human rights and the ensure of the survival of the Wayúu population, the largest ethnic group in Colombia which is settled in the territory of La Guajira. In keeping with the purpose of the Movement, we supported the claim and urged the Colombian president and government authorities to take all measures within their power to guarantee the special enhanced protection that the Colombian State must provide to Wayúu children during the State of Emergency due to the COVID-19.
DCI-Colombia launched on June 2020 a public joint statement to urge the State of Colombia for the implementation of measures that guarantee the protection and access to the rights of children in the country.
Read the press release (Available in Spanish).
DCI-Greece has launched a joint statement with other 21 human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Greece, associated with the new campaign #dont_leavethekidsalone, asking the government for immediate preventive measures in the islands’ Reception and Identification Centers (RICs) where the precarious situations of asylum seekers and migrants would put them at greater risk from the infection.
DCI-Greece
DCI-Italy
DCI-Italy has organized during the country lockdown some “conversations meanwhile”. In that particular moment of suspension, where the exchanges became virtual, the team of DCI-Italy was protagonist of a series of meetings where philosophers, psychologists, musicians and sociologists told their point of view, to experiment together new ways of dialogue, training and information.
DCI-Mauritania
DCI-Mauritania responds to the emerging challenges of COVID-19:
The President of DCI-Mauritania and AMSME, distributed food products to 900 poor and confined families and 8000 awareness flyers. This awareness campaign was organized by the GFF CSO coalition of 204 organizations under the presidency of DCI-Mauritania at the level of the capital Nouakchott. Some pictures of the campaign are available on the facebook account.
Likewise, DCI-Mauritania participated in two television programs and the production of two videos to create awareness about the fake news that has been widely published on social networks during and about COVID-19. This misinformation prompted DCI-Mauritania to elaborate on and publish two prevention posters in their social media.
During the new activities relating to COVID-19, the National Section continued their projects of care and counselling of victims of sexual violence that takes place in the centre “EL Wafa” as well as the child helpline. The helpline was adapted to be at the disposal of children in distress due to the COVID-19. Some 14 boys and 18 girls have phoned the helpline desk seeking information about the coronavirus.
DCI-Palestine called on Israeli authorities on March 19th, calling on Israeli authorities to take immediate action to release all Palestinian child detainees in Israeli prisons due to the rapid global spread of the COVID-19 virus. A UN human rights expert produced a statement urged Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to live up to their international legal responsibilities by ensuring that the right to health is fully provided to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DCI-Palestine published in August 2020 an article on Palestinian child detainees tested positive for coronavirus in Israeli prison.
DCI-Sierra Leone organized #SexualRepreductiveHealthRights sessions for girls and provided them with vital information on essential services and how to access these services in communities to minimize the likelihood of girls getting pregnant during this #COVID-19, and with the help of a professional health worker. Moreover, on April 10th, Defence for Children International Sierra Leone and AIM urged the government to investigate sexual abuses against girls in COVID-19 quarantined homes in Port Loko District.
DCI-Sierra Leone appearing alongside the speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, movie star Idris Elba, Sierra Leone artists and ministers in a video for the Girls Advocacy Alliance.
DCI-Sierra Leone
Resources for Child Rights Defenders:
- NGOs Statement on the impacts of COVID19 on children
- COVID-19 4P Log App – Along with other NGOs, we are partnering with Professor Jennifer Davidson (University of Strathclyde) to collect live data through the new Smartphone App COVID 4P Log that is aimed at collecting data and disseminate information and good practices on the fight against COVID-19.
- Technical note of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, Protection fo Children during the COVID-19 pandemic, May 2020
- #CovidUnder19, a new campaign of Terres des Hommes open to children participation during the month of June 2020
- Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action has prepared operational guidance to work for and with young people during the COVID-19 emergency Read more
- Policy brief: Impact of COVID-19 in Africa(20 May 2020)
- Guidance brief on Covid-19 of SOS-Torture Network and detention in English and different languages: Español, Türkçesi
- Webinar on Protecting Children from Violence, Abuse, and Neglect at Home, from the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, May 8th 2020
- United Nations Secretary General Statement: on the impact of the COVID-19 on children
- SRSG VAC Statement on protecting violence against children and safeguard their well-being
- CSRSG CAAC Statement on Ceasefires Present Opportunities to Better Protect Children in Armed Conflict
- UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Statement on children rights and COVID-19
- UN experts call for urgent action to mitigate heightened risks of violence against children
- UN agencies issue urgent call on COVID-19
- Defence for Children International Press Release
- TDH Every child has right to childhood
- Leaders to Respond to the Impact of the COVID – 19 Pandemic on Children
- Arigatou International launched a Global Campaign to Mobilize Religious Organisation to Respond to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children
- Statement of the CRIN – Coronavirus and children in detention
- Comité de Derechos del Niño, Declaración sobre COVID-19 e Infancia:
- Urgent regularization of migrant and asylum seekers at the risk of the COVID-19 – Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR by its initials in Spanish)
- Human Rights Watch urges governments to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on children
- #FreetheKids Hundreds of migrant children in Greece without a parent or relative are sitting behind bars in immigration detention. Their conditions create a heightened risk for contracting COVID-19.
- COVID-19 isolation threatens life-saving vaccinations for millions of children globally