State of the World's Children 2013 - Unicef

FOCUS
Risk, resilience and inclusive
humanitarian action
By Maria Kett
Assistant Director, Department of
Epidemiology and Public Health,
Leonard Cheshire Disability and
Inclusive Development Centre,
University College London
Article 11 of the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities compels States
parties to “ensure the protection
and safety of persons with
disabilities in situations of risk,
including situations of armed
conflict, humanitarian emergencies
and the occurrence
of natural disasters.”
In an emergency – whether
armed conflict or a natural or
human-made disaster – children
are among those most
vulnerable to the loss of food,
shelter, health care, education
and age-appropriate psychosocial
support services. This
vulnerability can be even more
acute for children with disabilities:
Even where basic supplies
and relief services are available,
they may not be inclusive
or accessible.
Knowing how many children
with disabilities live in an area
affected by an emergency is
extremely challenging, because
accurate numbers may not
have existed even before the
emergency. Parents or communities
may hide such children
because of stigma, for example.
The resulting exclusion is of particular
concern because even the
most rudimentary reporting systems
can unravel in humanitarian
situations, since registration
and reporting points or centres
may not be accessible.
At the same time, increasing
numbers of children may sustain
disabling injuries as a result of
chronic or sudden emergencies.
In an earthquake, children may
be disabled by falling objects or
when buildings collapse. They
may receive crushing injuries
and undergo psychological
trauma during floods and landslides.
Conflict increases the likelihood
that children will become
disabled as a result of fighting,
because of landmines, or
through exposure to other explosive
remnants of war (ERW).
Because children are smaller and
at earlier stages in their development,
they often sustain more
seriously disabling injuries than
adults and require continuing
physiotherapy, prostheses and
psychological support.
The challenges facing children
with disabilities and their families
are rarely acknowledged
when the impact of an emergency
is assessed. These challenges
include new environmental barriers
such as collapsed ramps;
damaged or lost assistive
devices; and the loss of previously
established services (sign
language interpreters or visiting
nurses) or support systems
(social security payments or
social protection schemes).
There are other risks. If family
members die, there may be
no one left who knows how to
care for a child with a physical
disability or who can communicate
with a child with a
sensory impairment. If families
are forced to flee, especially if
they face a long journey by foot,
they may leave behind children
who are unable to walk or are
in frail health. Families may
also leave behind children with
disabilities because they fear
they will be refused asylum in
another country if one of their
family members has a disability.
Several countries practise such
discrimination. Institutions and
residential schools may close or
be abandoned by staff, leaving
few people – or no one – to help
the children in their charge.
Children with disabilities, especially
those with learning disabilities,
can also be directly
involved in conflict. They may
be pressed into service as fighters,
cooks or porters precisely
because they are considered to
be less valuable, or less likely to
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THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2013: Children with Disabilities