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Resolution 1850 (2011) Final version
What Europe can do for children in the aftermath of natural disasters and crisis situations: the examples of Haiti and Afghanistan
1. Natural disasters and political
crises are events which threaten lives and the very basis of existence
of the population in the countries where they occur. Recent events
have shown that these situations are not unusual and can occur,
in one way or another, in any country: the famine in East Africa,
the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 2010 earthquake in
Haiti, as well as the recent and ongoing political crises in the Arab
world and the crisis which has been affecting Afghanistan for many
years now. Children are worst hit by these crises, for many reasons.
2. The member states of the Council of Europe are regularly called
upon to share their know-how in crisis situations in various countries,
to provide material support and thus to assume their responsibilities
which derive not only from their international commitments but also
from the many forms of economic and social interdependence with
these countries. The assistance is usually provided in a highly
complex context, with the arrival of many international and European
governmental and non-governmental organisations in countries which
are, at that time, mostly destitute and powerless in the exercise
of government.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly is particularly worried about the
situation of children in the context of natural disasters or political
crises, where not even the provision of basic services (housing,
food, health care and hygiene, and education) can be ensured. Moreover,
in these situations of instability and collapse of the rule of law,
children often face many attacks on their personal integrity, such
as physical and sexual violence, abduction and various types of
exploitation, along with the resulting traumas. The two cases studied
– Haiti and Afghanistan – show a number of shortcomings in international
aid, which is sometimes insufficiently targeted and co-ordinated
and is therefore liable to exacerbate rather than improve the situation
of children.
4. The Assembly notes that in crisis situations many children
are displaced, separated from their families or become orphans.
Some end up in institutions or have to live in precarious conditions
on the street or in camps. Many lose identity documents in the course
of their displacement, or simply never had any, even at birth. This
lack of documentation and birth registration creates a risk of children
being stateless and exacerbates their vulnerability.
5. The Assembly calls on Council of Europe member states to acknowledge
that their national policies in specific fields, such as intercountry
adoption, can directly influence the fate of children in countries
in crisis. The “demand” from European families for young children
to adopt has been pinpointed as one of the factors encouraging child-trafficking
activities in many countries. Intercountry adoption procedures in
the host countries for these children should be tailored to ensure
greater transparency and rigorous respect for the 1993 Hague Convention
on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry
Adoption (the Hague Adoption Convention), which stipulates that
“intercountry adoptions [must be] made in the best interests of
the child” and that “each State should take, as a matter of priority,
appropriate measures to enable the child to remain in the care of
his or her family of origin”. The same principles must be promoted
in countries of origin affected by natural or political crises.
6. Furthermore, the Assembly calls on member states to take account
of the risk of mental and behavioural destabilisation of children
linked to eating and clothing habits and lifestyles imported during
abrupt, ephemeral mass emergency interventions. Although such actions
provide the requisite immediate assistance, they often leave an
enormous vacuum and dashed hopes if they are short-lived. Emergency
intervention programmes must therefore be targeted, respect local
culture and lifestyles and be part of a continuous action supporting
a definitive return to normality.
7. In the light of the situation of children in Haiti and Afghanistan,
the Assembly calls on the member states to adopt the following measures
in order to support countries affected by the consequences of a
natural disaster or a political crisis:
7.1. in any legislative and humanitarian action conducted at
European and national levels, include a protection perspective and
recognise and promote childhood as a factor of particular vulnerability
in order to ensure that assistance to third countries results in
appropriate responses to the real needs of children and that it
respects their culture of origin as well as international rules;
7.2. in connection with national legislative measures:
7.2.1. ratify, if they have not yet
done so, the Hague Adoption Convention, and rigorously implement
it;
7.2.2. review their national legislation and procedures on intercountry
adoption, and suspend intercountry adoption with countries in crisis
until the child protection mechanisms are once again operational,
in order to avoid encouraging child trafficking;
7.2.3. promote, in countries affected by crises, the Hague Adoption
Convention and the recommendations set out in the report by the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery
(particularly as regards Haiti, where “restavek”,
a form of domestic exploitation of children, is practised);
7.2.4. support, in countries affected by crises, legislative,
judicial and institutional reforms geared to introducing effective
mechanisms for the protection of children against all risks: abduction,
trafficking, physical and sexual violence, placement in illegal
or non-supervised accommodation structures, wrongful intercountry
adoption or other forms of exploitation;
7.2.5. support, in countries affected by crises, efforts to address
family separation through family tracing and reunification and take
all necessary steps for the return or resettlement of displaced
people;
7.2.6. promote, in countries affected by crises, the 1954 Convention
relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention
on the Reduction of Statelessness;
7.2.7. support, in countries affected by crises, legal reforms
and institutional strengthening to ensure that all children are
registered at birth, and that an adequate civil registration system
is accessible to all sectors of the population, particularly as
regards Haiti, where many children are not registered at birth and
risk being stateless;
7.3. as regards humanitarian actions conducted or supported
by them:
7.3.1. promote the introduction
of specifications for all humanitarian actions supported by national
budgets in order to ensure that child protection is prioritised
and that the commissioned bodies respect human rights during their
interventions;
7.3.2. support humanitarian organisations and specialist associations
in a continuous and reliable manner, honour the financial pledges
made and, when appropriate, disengage gradually in consultation
with all the parties involved;
7.3.3. support national players not only in the most urgent responses
to the crisis, but also, in the medium term, in restoring government
structures, public authorities and economic development, vital basic
services (including education), the main infrastructures as well
as the labour market;
7.3.4. take account of the specific national contexts and the
particular challenges arising in crisis situations, such as specific
needs of populations in remote geographical areas or the need to
help national and local partners to restore their own management
capacities as quickly as possible.