Attachments
Children living as refugees and returnees
in eight sub-Saharan Africa locations are suffering not only due to their
refugee and returnee status, but also other factors over which they have
no control: hostility and violence from local people (arising largely from
competition over scarce resources and services), and pervasive sexual and
gender-based violence. Children encounter violence and sexual assault in
schools, communities and homes. Yet these problems are rarely acknowledged
and the voices of young refugees are rarely heard.
Between 2005 and 2007 the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) carried out a series of groundbreaking
Participatory Assessments (PAs) with children living in refugee and returnee
situations in Southern Africa to discover: how children are being treated,
how they perceive the violence with which they are often faced, how they
cope, and what suggestions they have for improving their situation. The
holding of such assessments forms part of UNHCR's strategy for Age, Gender
and Diversity Mainstreaming (AGDM), the overall aim of which is to promote
gender equality and the rights of all refugees.
The information gathered during the
assessments served as the basis for Action Plans designed to address the
various issues raised. Moreover, through this participatory methodology,
UNHCR sought to give refugee and returnee children a voice in defining
and resolving their problems, and to ensure that their voice was heard
by adults. Thus an important outcome of the PAs was that the attention
of UNHCR and partner staff, as well as parents and caregivers, was drawn
to the needs and rights of children and their obligation to fulfil them.
This process was empowering for the young people - who are generally among
the world's most disempowered - and is contributing to redressing some
of their concerns as Action Plans are implemented.