联合国文件/第803部分 (共1000部分)

Conclusion on Children at Risk

Recognizing the important work done by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in relation to the protection of children,

Recognizing the varied means and capacity of host countries; and reaffirming its call to the international community, in cooperation with UNHCR and other international organizations, to mobilize the financial and other resources necessary, including in support of host communities, to ensure the provision of protection and material assistance and the achievement of durable solutions, based on international solidarity, cooperation and burden and responsibility

(a) Adopts this Conclusion which provides operational guidance for States, UNHCR and other relevant agencies and partners, including through identifying components that may form part of a comprehensive child protection system, with the aim of strengthening the protection of children at risk;

Fundamentals of child protection

(b) Recognizes that strategies and actions under this operational guidance should be underpinned by the following principles and approaches, amongst others:

A collaborative approach whereby all relevant actors work together to: identify risks faced by children; undertake participatory situation and comprehensive gap analyses to identify, assess and respond to the wider environmental and individual factors placing children at heightened risk; and document and share information with due respect for rules of confidentiality;

Identification of children at risk

(c) Calls on States, UNHCR and other relevant agencies and partners to put in place modalities, as appropriate, for early and continuous identification of children at heightened risk.

Wider environmental risk factors including, but not limited to: an insecure environment; lack of access to child-sensitive asylum procedures; situations of displacement, particularly protracted situations; statelessness; lack of sustainable solutions; poverty and families' lack of self-reliance opportunities; inadequate access to and use of services such as education and health care; disruption of family and community support structures; prevalence of traditional practices that are harmful to children; discrimination, intolerance, xenophobia, and gender inequality; and lack of documentation of the parent-child relationship through birth registrations and issuance of birth certificates; and

(d) Recognizes the challenges involved in identifying children at heightened risk as they are frequently less visible than adults and may not have the opportunity or feel able to report protection incidents, particularly if these occur in the private domain and/or are associated with social stigmas or taboos; acknowledges the need to provide children access to adults with expertise in age-appropriate and gender-sensitive interviewing and communication skills to ensure that children's views are taken into account and their needs and protection risks are adequately identified and responded to;

(e) Recognizes that individual, careful and prompt registration of children can be useful for States, UNHCR and other relevant agencies and partners in identifying children at heightened risk;

(f) Recognizes that the systematic collection and analysis of age- and sex-disaggregated data, and of data on children with specific needs, such as unaccompanied and separated children, can be useful for States, UNHCR and other relevant agencies and partners in identifying children at heightened risk;

Prevention, response and solutions

(g) Recommends that States, UNHCR and other relevant agencies and partners work in close collaboration to prevent children from being put at heightened risk, and respond, as necessary, through the general prevention, response and solution measures listed non-exhaustively below:

Ensure that age assessments are only carried out in cases when a child's age is in doubt, and take into account both the physical appearance and the psychological maturity of the individual; that they are conducted in a scientific, safe, child and gender-sensitive and fair manner with due respect for human dignity; and that they consider the individual as a child in the event of uncertainty; Establish and/or implement codes of conduct, including stipulating zero tolerance for child exploitation and abuse for all humanitarian staff, including those working in the delivery of services, and for other staff in authority such as border guards, and ensure that confidential and accessible complaints systems are in place which include child and gender-sensitive investigation and follow-up, so as to encourage the reporting of abuse and exploitation where codes of conduct are breached;

(h) Further recommends that States, UNHCR and other relevant agencies and partners undertake the following non-exhaustive prevention, response and solution measures in order to address specific wider environmental or individual risks factors:

Enhance the use of resettlement as a protection and durable solutions tool for children at risk; where appropriate, take a flexible approach to family unity, including through consideration of concurrent processing of family members in different locations, as well as to the definition of family members in recognition of the preference to protect children within a family environment with both parents; and recognize UNHCR's role in the determination of the best interests of the child which should inform resettlement decisions including in situations where only one parent is being resettled and custody disputes remain unresolved due to the unavailability or inaccessibility of competent authorities, or due to the inability to obtain official documents from the country of origin as this could jeopardize the safety of the refugee or his/her relatives; and

The Executive Committee,

The Executive Committee,

Recognizing that, in different contexts, there may be a need for international protection in cases not addressed by the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol; and recalling in this regard paragraph (l) of its Conclusion No. 74 (XLV),

(i) Encourages the use of complementary forms of protection for individuals in need of international protection who do not meet the refugee definition under the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Protocol;

(l) Notes that temporary protection, without formally according refugee status, as a specific provisional protection response to situations of mass influx providing immediate emergency protection from refoulement, should be clearly distinguished from other forms of international protection;

C.