Using the 'protective environment' framework to analyse children's protection needs in Darfur |
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Authors: | Alastair Ager Neil Boothby Megan Bremer |
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Affiliation: | Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, United States;Professor of Global Health, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, United States;Research Associate, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, United States |
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Abstract: | A major humanitarian concern during the continuing crisis in Darfur, Sudan, has been the protection of children, although there has been little in the way of comprehensive analysis to guide intervention. Founded on a situational analysis conducted between October 2005 and March 2006, this paper documents the significant threats to children's well-being directly linked to the political conflict. It demonstrates the role of non-conflict factors in exacerbating these dangers and in promoting additional protection violations, and it uses the 'protective environment' framework (UNICEF Sudan, 2006a) to identify systematic features of the current environment that put children at risk. This framework is shown to provide a coherent basis for assessment and planning, prompting broad, multidisciplinary analysis, concentrating on preventive and protective action, and fostering a systemic approach (rather than placing an undue focus on the discrete needs of 'vulnerable groups'). Constraints on its present utility in emergency settings are also noted. |
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Keywords: | cultural practices displacement economic conditions enforcement legislation monitoring and reporting political violence protective environment vulnerability |
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