Child Protection Case Management (CP CM) is part of the essential services that cannot be stopped suddenly, but which requires adaptation to the new emergency.This includes the Best Interest Procedure (BIP) in refugee settings. With many schools and childcare facilities closed, increased caregiver stress, and crowded living spaces where families are confined, children are at heightened risk of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. In addition, children may experience the death of their caregiver or may be separated from their families for multiple reasons, including public health containment measures associated with COVID-19. As these risks are often hidden and out of sight within communities, it can become even more difficult to identify vulnerable children without visits or other forms of follow-up by caseworkers due to new COVID-19-related restrictions. Thus, continued support for the most urgent cases within the existing caseload must be available through adapted measures, along with appropriate responses for new child protection risks and concerns generated by the pandemic. This document builds on existing response action from several countries and case management task force agencies. It provides considerations for adapting CP CM interventions to the COVID-19 pandemic and to better understand the important role of case management in the emergency.

Worldwide, an estimated 152 million children are in child labour, almost half of them, 73 million, work in hazardous child labour. The global health crisis is leading to mass disruption with far-reaching consequences. Many children are out of school and economic pressures on families continue to grow. This could push millions of children into child labour and makes child labour an imminent concern. Already working children are likely to be more exposed to the virus (further increasing spread) and face higher risks to falling into worst forms of child labour (WFCL). This technical note offers guidance and information to practitioners and policy-makers on child labour issues during and after COVID-19 and what actions can be taken. After the introduction, section 2 presents the potential risks COVID-19 can pose to children at risk of child labour and children engaged in child labour. Section 3 presents programmatic and advocacy actions in line with the 2019 Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) and the Child Labour in Emergencies Toolkit (revised edition forthcoming in 2020). Section 4 lists available resources.

It is abundantly clear that risk factors for violence, abuse, and neglect are on the rise for children under containment. At the same time, some COVID-19 prevention measures have abruptly cut children off from positive and supportive relationships they rely on when in distress, including at school, in the extended family, and in the community. Children’s rights to safety and protection as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action are threatened. This resource, which is informed by reports from the field, examines issues that children may face as countries implement lockdowns and stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of COVID-19. Protective prevention and response strategies are then outlined with the goal of strengthening the protection of children in all types of homes.

This snapshot explores the links between extortion, internal displacement and forced migration in the North of Central America (NCA) and the migration route in Mexico. Although the definition varies across different national legislations, we understand extortion as being the use of intimidation, violence or threats to force someone to do something or to obtain someone’s property.This type of aggression is one of the main drivers of displacement in the region, but it is also one of the main crimes that people are subjected to during displacement, as well as after deportation back to their countries of origin. As such, extortion transcends international borders as one of the main human rights violations committed against displaced people and migrants. In order to outline the issue of extortion and its relationship with internal displacement and forced migration in this region, this snapshot explores the phenomenon of extortion, its protagonists and consequences. The first section compiles an update on the recent data related to the ongoing protection crisis in the region. Secondly the snapshot provides analysis on the regional similarities and trends related to extortion, and then provides a more detailed examination of the situation in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, through national chapters. Finally, a brief annex explores the protection risks related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Between 2014 and 2018, more than 70,000 unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) arrived in Italy by sea, 90 per cent of whom were between 15 and 17 years old. The significant presence of UASCs in the country, and the growing number of UASCs who have turned 18 (about 60,000 in the last five years), have highlighted the need to understand the factors that affect the transition to adult life of UASCs in Italy, facilitating or hindering it, both individually and structurally. The research – commissioned by UNICEF, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Organization for Migration – was carried out by ISMU Foundation in collaboration with Roma Tre University and University of Catania. The research has highlighted, first of all, the artificiality of a distinction between “children” and “adults” (UASCs who turned 18) that does not take due account of the transitional process of becoming adults, the sociocultural and gender differences that affect this process and the vulnerabilities to which this category of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are exposed to. The analysis also shows a prevalent incidence of contextual, subjective and relational variables relating to the personal resources, agency and resilience of boys and girls, as well as the networks of formal and informal relations activated upon arrival.

This brochure presents an overview and introduction to human trafficking and the role that business can play in addressing it. It explains in practical terms what human trafficking is, why it is an issue for business and what companies large and small can do to take action against it. Divided into two parts, this brochure presents a section that gives an overview of the key issues linking human trafficking and business; and a series of case studies that highlight the practical actions companies are taking to fight this abuse.

This booklet was prepared with a mission to inform the public at large about human trafficking consisting in the exploitation of persons and prevent the rates and consequences of this crime which is today at the center of growing public attention worldwide.This booklet was published in the framework of the “School education on trafficking issues in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan” regional project implemented by International Organization for Migration (IOM). The booklet is written in the form of questions and answers and focuses on theoretical framework of main trafficking issues.