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Interconnections Worldwide Working internationally to share information, help build knowledge and support teamwork around babies, children and young people who are disabled, marginalised or vulnerable The home of Team Around the Child (TAC) and the Multiagency Keyworker |
REFUNITE is a non-profit independent organization with the mission of reconnecting thousands of separated refugee families across the globe.
Today, there are an estimated 43 million refugees and internally displaced people worldwide, a staggering percentage of which have lost family members or friends in their escape from natural disasters, political persecutions or armed conflicts.
Child protection is about keeping kids safe from violence, exploitation and abuse.
It's an issue in every country - including here in the UK. We have strict laws, specialist social services teams and charities like the NSPCC and Barnardo's that are all in place specifically to prevent and respond to child protection violation. Serious and widespread child protection failures are thankfully fairly rare here.
But in conflict affected countries, child protection violations happen on a huge scale.
Children are killed or wounded by the fighting, some may be used as soldiers, many are forced to flee their homes or are separated from their parents. Sexual violence against girls is used as a weapon of war in some conflicts too.
Report by Mohamed Salman, Assistant Professor, University of Salahaddin (2012)
Extract from the introduction:
During the Arab Spring, some of the Arab peoples decided to take a stand against their leaders as a result of many factors that accumulated over decades. These reactions and uprisings occurred from Tunisia in December 2010, followed by Egypt, Yemen and Libya, and originally started in peaceful civilian protests against their governments and some led to widespread violence and civil war.
Likewise, in Syria, there is a continuation of these trends. In the Syrian context, however, the nature of the struggle against the regime and its leadership is complicated by the fact that the opposition is backed from abroad and exploited by Islamists, and the regime continues to act with full force against these fighters and its own citizens.
Fighting and destruction continues to this day, prompting the Syrians to flee at home or resorting to flee to neighboring countries to escape the oppression and the effects of the fighting.
Full report: http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/MPC%202012%2015.pdf
Refugees International advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. We are an independent organization, and do not accept any government or UN funding.
Challenge: Displacement crises left unattended threaten stability around the world. There are 51.2 million refugees and internally displaced people and 10 million stateless people living in limbo without citizenship rights. People forced from their homes by conflict are among the world's most vulnerable and they all have individual stories of loss, heartache, and survival.
Impact: Timely responses to displacement crises can increase stability in a region before the conflict spreads across borders. Due to our efforts, displaced people receive food, medicine, and education; families return home; peacekeepers are sent to protect displaced people from harm; and stateless people obtain legal status.
Field Work: Each year, Refugees International conducts approximately twelve field missions to identify displaced people's needs for basic services such as food, water, health care, housing, access to education and protection from harm. Based on our field-based knowledge of humanitarian emergencies, we successfully challenge policy makers and aid agencies to improve the lives of displaced people around the world. Where there are needs, we witness what is lacking, we present solutions and we demand action
Cartoon © Martina Jirankova-Limbrick 2011