Attachments
INTRODUCTION
The Child Protection Working Group defines child protection as “the prevention and response to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence against children”. As there are threats to children’s safety and wellbeing in every emergency, child protection is an important consideration in all humanitarian action and can be a life-saving measure.
Overall, the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) are intended to:
• Set common principles;
• Strengthen coordination;
• Improve the quality of programming and its impact;
• Improve accountability;
• Define child protection work;
• Provide good practices; and
• Enable better advocacy and communication on child protection.
As a companion to the Sphere Handbook, the CPMS are structured in the same manner with each standard accompanied by key actions, measurement and guidance notes.