Providing protection and relief for internally displaced communities

Forced displacement uproots children and youths at a time when their lives most need stability. During flight and displacement, children can become separated from their families, further exposing them to exploitation and abuse. In 2006 an estimated 18.1 million children were among populations living with the effects of displacement; within that group, there were an estimated 5.8 million refugee children and 8.8 million internally displaced children.

The Special Representative is deeply concerned, for instance, about the security of camps for internally displaced persons and refugees. It is clear that such locations have become choice targets of parties to conflict and prime areas for recruiting children. Lack of security in and around camps has led to increased vulnerability of children in places such as Darfur, eastern Chad, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Evidence indicates that refugee and internally displaced persons' camps are often recruiting grounds for child soldiers because of the convenient concentrations of children in these zones. These children also face severe protection risks during flight as well as outside camp boundaries that can include killing or maiming, sexual violence, abduction and trafficking. In Darfur, Sudan, for instance, the international community has witnessed alarming levels of sexual violence, often as a deliberate strategy of humiliation and ethnic cleansing. Such attacks have been directed especially against the large populations of internally displaced girls and women. In many places, the collection of water and firewood outside the boundaries of camps has become a life-and-death gamble for girls.

Separation of civilians and armed elements and the civilian character of camps for displaced persons should be maintained as important protection measures.

The international community must address more systematically the acute vulnerability of this category of children and should focus attention in terms of collective advocacy and programmatic interventions.

For more information, visit the following webstites:

• UNHCR - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• OCHA - Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

• IDMC - Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre