PANEL ORGAN - KIIT University

PANEL ORGANIZER
ISLAM, M Zulfiquar Ali, University Rajasahi 6205, BANGLADESH, E-mail:
PAPER PRESENTERS
GOONATILAKE, Hema, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Sri Lanka.
E-mail:
Rights and Security of Natural Disaster-affected Children: A Case Study of T-Sunami
Affected Children of Sri Lanka
When more than 4000 children in Sri Lanka lost one or both parents in a matter of minutes
in the December 2004 tsunami, provision of protection and security became the biggest
challenge ever faced by child protection authorities and child rights groups. Immediate
care of these children by the extended families and friends was spontaneous as it had
always existed in Sri Lanka. There has been no mechanism, however, to make these
caregivers accountable, or to ensure adequate care and protection to these children.
Therefore, a scheme was put in place, to make informal fostering legal by providing a
mechanism for assessment, report to court, financial support and follow-up. Thus, a viable
alternative method of care was developed through state intervention disaster became a
blessing in disguise after this scheme got established after some time. When dealing with
orphaned and unaccompanied children in Sri Lanka, institutionalization has been the
common practice. Keeping the tsunami-affected children out of institutions was one of the
wisest measures taken by the authorities in order to prevent child trafficking, child
adoption and other child abuses that could have easily taken place in the aftermath of the
tsunami disaster. UNICEF has been providing support to partner NGOs through training and
mentoring to probation and child care officers and government social work officers in
addition to providing direct social work services.
HOSSAIN, Khondoker Mokaddem, University of Dhaka, Dhaka1000, Bangladesh, E-mail:
Natural Disaster and the Vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples' Children in Bangladesh: A
Case Study of Rakhaine Community
Disasters affect people of different ethnic community differently, and the people of
different age groups are subject to vulnerable in many ways. This study tried to examine
the nature of vulnerability of the children of Rakhaine People in Bangladesh. The findings
reveal that lack of effective support to the disaster affected children make them more
vulnerable as they need to compete with adults to get their share of assistance in the
event of an emergency but unable to cope with the severity of disasters. The study
demonstrates how the children’s right to get support from household or local government
institution or NGOs are ignored and overlooked in the process of disaster response and
coping mechanism. It further assessed the children’s stress and strains in the process of
involvement in disaster risk reduction activities at household and community level. The
data were collected through child focused/centered focus group discussion, case studies,
researcher’s observation and KII. The study followed with an analysis of children’s
vulnerability during hazards.
HUDA, Khondaker, Mohammod Shariful*, Afroza Taznin** and Fathema Zhura
khatoon***, *Jahngirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh, **Research Fellow,
UNEP-EPLC and GIS Specialist/Research Officer, CNRS Banani, Dhaka1213, Bangladesh,