World Vision Programs to Keep Children Safe from Sexual Exploitation in Tsunami's Wake
Relief organization sets up child-friendly safe centers to protect children in hardest hit countries
January 7, 2005
The devastation caused by the tsunami has left thousands of children orphaned or separated from their families and more than 100,000 in refugee camps. While child protection experts say it is too soon to know the true magnitude of the devastation, the youngest survivors of the disaster will be at greater risk of neglect, disease, sexual and physical abuse, and prolonged family separation unless aid workers and local officials take special precautions to protect them.
"Children are among the hardest hit by this catastrophe," says Joe Mettimano, World Vision’s senior policy advisor for child protection. "The pictures of dazed and grieving children wandering around the streets underscores the extraordinary vulnerability they face in this disaster."
In response to reports of children missing from hospitals and emergency shelters, the government of Sri Lanka has issued warnings about the dangers of inadequate procedures in the movement, treatment, and care of children. Child protection experts fear some children are being trafficked for work or for sexual exploitation, and are recommending that relief organizations set up "child-friendly" shelters to keep children safe.
World Vision is establishing these centers across the region, as part of its relief effort. For example, in Indonesia, World Vision is setting up 20 children centers that will include special tents next to temporary shelters where traumatized children will receive psychological support.
The typical temporary shelter has a very large number of children and adults together, making it easy for children to become separated from family members. If separated, children’s specific needs are neglected, placing them at risk of missing out on receiving life-saving aid such as vaccines, clean water and food, and leaving them vulnerable to mistreatment.
"After surviving the greatest tragedy of their lives, these children are incredibly vulnerable, " said Mettimano. "It is the job of relief organizations and child protection experts, like World Vision, to make sure these children are properly cared for and protected from greater suffering."
The following are some of the ways disasters disproportionately impact children and potential solutions to ease their suffering:
- Children experience an incredible sense of loss and grief – loss of home, family members, friends, safety, health, education, and most important, hope.
- Children need to know that whatever they feel is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.
- Children need to be with people they know and feel as safe as possible.
- Children need to establish a daily routine as soon as possible. This reduces their fears and creates an atmosphere that helps them think into the future.
- Children need to have playtime with other children. It helps them switch off from their fears and grief, and renew some energy and creative expression.
- Children who are separated from family members need to be registered so that tracing and reunification can be done as soon as possible and foster family placement arranged.
- Keeping children with families and in a familiar community (if possible) is critical to prevent abandonment.
- Transit centers can be a last resort, but they need to be managed with a different approach than traditional orphanages.
World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. World Vision serves the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, click here.
Joseph Mettimano, Child Protection Policy Advisory
Joseph Mettimano is World Vision’s child protection policy advisory in the U.S. In this role since 2002, Mettimano advocates with U.S. Government agencies to promote stronger laws and policies that protect children in the developing world. In addition, he develops child protection and victim assistance programs that target abused and exploited children. His work focuses primarily on children exploited in the commercial sex trade and children impacted by armed conflict.
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