State of the World's Children 2013 - Unicef

esist, than children without disabilities.
In theory disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration
programmes include all child
ex-combatants, but resources
or programmes for children
with disabilities are often nonexistent.
These children therefore
remain marginalized and
excluded, leaving them poor,
vulnerable and often having to
beg, as has been the case in
Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The risk of violence, including
sexual violence, increases when
family protection and social
structures break down as they
do during conflict and disasters.
While girls with disabilities are
at particular risk in such situations,
boys with disabilities
are also at risk and are even
less likely to be helped in the
aftermath of violence.
Recovery and reconstruction
come with their own challenges
for children with disabilities. As
is the case with all crisis-affected
children, those with disabilities
require a range of services,
including but not limited to targeted
ones. Disability-specific
needs are extremely important,
but they are only part of the picture.
During recovery operations
after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,
for example, one girl with
a disability was given five wheelchairs
– but no one asked her if
she needed food or clothes.
Resilience and inclusion
Children have repeatedly
demonstrated their resilience.
Measures can be taken to
support their participation and
inclusion. These measures
should be specific to particular
groups and contexts: Boys and
girls have different experiences
of conflict, as do young children
and adolescents. Similarly,
emergencies can affect urban
and rural areas differently.
As a starting point, children with
disabilities should be given the
opportunity to take part in the
planning and implementation of
disaster risk reduction and peacebuilding
strategies as well as in
recovery processes. Ignorance
and incorrect assumptions that
they are unable to contribute
have often barred them from
doing so, but this has begun to
change. In Bangladesh, for example,
Plan International learned
to challenge such misconceptions
through partnerships with
disability organizations and by
working directly with communities
in undertaking child-centred
disaster risk reduction.
Similarly, provision for children
with disabilities is increasing in
disaster response. In Pakistan,
Handicap International (HI) and
Save the Children built childfriendly
inclusive spaces and
developed sector-wide guidance
on inclusion of persons with disabilities,
especially in protection
projects. In Haiti, HI and the faithbased
development organization
CBM lobbied the government to
increase the inclusion of persons
with disabilities in food distribution
and other efforts. The United
Nations often uses emergencies
as an opportunity to ‘build back
better’, an approach that can
yield opportunities for children
with disabilities because it
offers all stakeholders a
chance to work together.
Disability is also being mainstreamed
in such guidelines
as the Sphere Project’s
Humanitarian Charter and
Minimum Standards in
Humanitarian Response,
framed by a group of international
organizations to improve
the quality and accountability
of humanitarian response.
The availability of emergency
guidelines on how to include
people with disabilities – and
children in particular – is
increasing. These gains need to
be consolidated and extended
to such areas as child nutrition
and protection.
Also needed is a unified
approach to data collection.
Collaboration with local and
national disabled people’s
organizations should be
emphasized, and these groups’
capacity to address issues
specific to children should be
built up where necessary. And
the extent to which children
with disabilities are included in
humanitarian response must
be audited to monitor and
improve results.
Clear standards and inclusion
checklists that can be applied
across the range of emergencies
will be essential – but to
be put into practice, they must
be accompanied by resource
allocations.
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
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