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Month: September 2023

Compassion is Contagious: PLUS1 and Artists Unite for War Child

Music has always been a vehicle for social change; a universal language that inspires us to imagine a better world.  Since inception, music has been the heartbeat of War Child and the organization has benefited greatly from the support of countless musicians – all who have helped make our critical work with war-affected communities possible.

Our partners at PLUS1 know the transformative power of music and the collective energy concerts create. Founded by Arcade Fire‘s Marika Shaw, PLUS1 connects artists and fans to the causes they believe in by adding $1 to every ticket sold and donating 100% of these funds to support organizations that are working on some of the most important social issues of our time.  Organizations like War Child.

Thanks to PLUS1, making an impact has never been easier.  The $1 per ticket is added before tours are announced and PLUS1 works with artist management and agents / promoters to take care of all the details.  It really is that simple.

Over the past 5 years many generous artists have, through PLUS1, raised over $260,000, for our work protecting children from the brutal impact of war and helping them rebuild their lives.

Artists that have supported War Child through PLUS1 include: Belle and Sebastian, Billy Talent, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida, Frank Turner, Glass Animals, Matthew Good, Our Lady Peace, Sam Roberts Band, Sam Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Sum 41 and Wintersleep.

We look forward to continuing this great work together and to partnering with more talented artists through PLUS1.  To find out more please contact Vanessa Neshevich, Senior Manager of Creative Partnerships & Celebrity Engagement at vanessa@warchild.ca.

What if you can’t get to school during ‘back to school season’?

This week, millions of children in North America are going back to school. But for millions of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the opportunity to go “back to school” is often an unrealized dream.

Seven-and-a-half million children in the DRC are not able to go to school due to decades-long instability and conflict. Four million of these children are girls, many of whom are unable to even make it to a classroom because the walk to school takes them through territory controlled by armed militias. The threat of sexual violence is real enough that these girls are forced to make the difficult choice to stay home.

War Child knew how important it was to give these girls a chance at an education. So we developed a ground-breaking interactive radio program where education is delivered over the radio. War Child created a curriculum of educational radio dramas for each of the lessons. Girls no longer had to make that dangerous journey to a classroom. Instead, they could learn in the safety of their own communities with specially-trained teaching assistants who guided them through the work.

This program is helping to change the lives of many students, including 16-year-old Safi: “Before, I could not understand how this education through the radio would work. But now I understand it well and I appreciate it so much. I get a good education from the program. It will help me to get a job when I get my diploma and from there my life will change.”

The initial pilot project concluded in 2017 and the results were very impressive, with pass rates as high as 95 percent. Now, War Child is working with the Congolese Ministry of Education to take the program nationwide and ensure that girls throughout the country will finally have access to a safe education and a chance at a successful future.

Watch this video from the BBC to find out more about our Interactive Radio Instruction program:

Syrian Refugees: The Road to Recovery

The brutal civil war in Syria has forced nearly 700,000 refugees to flee to Jordan. War Child’s local team has helped tens of thousands of vulnerable children by providing them with safe spaces to play, to heal, and to further their education. War Child has also provided support to the families of those children, by ensuring that their mothers know their rights, have access to counselling, and receive the support they need to thrive in their new communities.

These people managed to find refuge in countries like Jordan and have been able to start a new life. For some, the process of moving to another country on a permanent basis is long, and some may not even make it past the application process. Countries like the United States of America ask potential new citizens to fill out something similar to form n-400 to mark the first step of naturalization in their journey to becoming an American citizen. Whether you manage to find refuge in communities like Jordan or in one of the most popular countries in the world, being able to find refuge in a safe place is the most important thing.

A donation today will help us empower Syrian children and their families to build a brighter future.

With thanks:

We are grateful to be able to provide critical services to Syrian refugees in Jordan. War Child would like to thank our generous supporters who have brought us this far. This work was made possible with the generous support of the IKEA Foundation and IKEA Canada, RBC Foundation, UN Women Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, The United States Institute of Peace, the Newlands Family Foundation, Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy Foundation, Alicia Keys’ We Are Here Inc, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, Catbird, and PLUS1. The following artists and supporters have also been instrumental in supporting our work with Syrian refugees: Chantal Kreviazuk, Our Lady Peace, Sam Roberts Band, Simple Plan, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Sarah Harmer, Belle and Sebastian, Rupi Kaur, Sandra Shamas, Mustafa the Poet, Dr. Yasmine Hussain, and Dr. Baseer Khan.

Special thanks to all of our generous donors and to Denise Donlon for Producing this video.

War Child Taking Action in Sudan: Civilians Under Threat in New Crisis

War Child is taking action in Sudan as the country experiences a new and violent crisis that threatens to disrupt the lives of millions of children, women and their families.

Waves of protests led to the ousting of the country’s former government, resulting in a tense standoff that many fear could escalate dramatically. War Child has been operating in Sudan for more than a decade, and is already providing support for women and children in the wake of this increasingly violent crisis.

It was fifteen years ago that War Child teams began supporting children on the frontlines of conflict in Sudan during the war in Darfur.  Since that time, we have worked to provide children with clean water to drink so they do not get sick, to provide families with the tools and training necessary to lift themselves out of poverty and ensure their children have food to eat, and to reduce tensions amongst communities by training mediators and building bridges between rival factions.

When other organizations were forced to leave, War Child stayed and invested in our team – who are 100% Sudanese – so that they could respond to new waves of violence.

Now that Sudan faces a fresh crisis, we are ready again to take action to support and protect children, women and families at risk.

But to take action in the face of this new crisis, we need your help.

Your donation to War Child’s Crisis Response Fund enables us to directly support children facing unthinkable violence and instability. Join us and donate today.

War Child Sister Agency Receives Recognition at United Nations

War Child USA’s sister agency in Holland, War Child Holland, is bringing quality education to children in war zones across the world through its ground-breaking Can’t Wait to Learn program – a fast, effective and low cost gaming technology that is transforming the future of children affected by war.

Can’t Wait to Learn is an innovative education solution for young, war-affected children, whose access to quality schooling is either extremely limited or non-existent. It uses tablets and digital gaming to teach children how to read and count. The educational games allow children to have fun and learn at their own pace. After completing a series of games and lessons, the software automatically unlocks new exercises at a higher level – making it possible for children to progressively acquire new skills. Research has shown that Can’t Wait to Learn has seen children’s math and reading improve by up to three times the rate of traditional teaching methods. War Child Holland has deployed this technology in Uganda, Lebanon, Jordan and Sudan.

Earlier this month, Can’t Wait to Learn Programme Director Kate Radford presented the project to the United Nations Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development at the UN Headquarters in New York. Following Kate’s success in New York, we caught up with her to find out how this innovative technology could close the education gap for millions of children caught up in war and what War Child Holland’s plans are for extending the program’s reach.

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Could you tell us why you think this program is so important?

For some children gaining basic literacy and numeracy skills through Can’t Wait to Learn can be their only chance for an education. Take 14 year old Mahmoud, whose family fled from Syria to Jordan. He has never been to school, and spends most of his time working to support his family.  Mahmoud comes to a UNICEF-supported learning centre every morning to use War Child’s Can’t Wait to Learn tablet-based learning software. “I have an hour class every day, playing with the tablet. I learnt a lot of new things using the game. I’m enjoying knowing how to calculate. I know how to add and subtract numbers. The teachers guided us in the beginning on how to use the tablet, and now I know how to do everything by myself. I am moving through the game levels quickly.”

Could you tell us what prompted you to develop such an innovative program?

The idea of using technology to help reduce the number of out-of-school children first came from Dr. Aiman Badri, from Ahfad University for Women in Khartoum; the initial champion of the programme in Sudan, where it started as a pilot called e-Learning Sudan. We could see that the demand for education, from children and their parents alike, was high, and we also knew from research that serious digital game-based learning can achieve higher cognitive gains and a more positive attitude towards learning than traditional teaching methods. In humanitarian crises large numbers of children cannot attend school, classes are overcrowded and teachers are overburdened. Digital game-based learning can be a really effective solution to bridge the education gap in these situations. It is cost-effective, accessible and enables children to work at their own speed and difficulty levels. Research shows that games allow the brain to work more effectively and for longer periods of time. And crucially, as motivation is key to learning and games are designed to be highly motivating, the potential for learning is higher. What’s not to love?!

How integral are the children in designing the program?

The secret ingredient! Now this is where Can’t Wait to Learn really stands out from other education technology models. It is designed for children, by children! Knowing that effective digital game-based learning is rooted in accurate cultural themes which mimic reality as closely as possible, the foundation of all Can’t Wait to Learn games is the game design co-creation process we go through with the children we’re designing for. Face to face games and discussions along with children’s artwork in the form of drawings, Lego constructions and modelling-clay sculptures form the basis of the game world in each context. We’ve developed and refined the co-creation process to ensure that each and every game looks, sounds and feels like the world the children are living in and recognise, from the characters and their names, clothing and vocations, to the locations in each game world. There is nothing quite as inspiring as seeing children’s designs brought to life.

How have you proven that it works?

Yes! We’ve undertaken rigorous research, with the results showing that children learn, and they learn fast! In Sudan, children participating in Can’t Wait to Learn improved nearly twice as much in maths and almost three times as much in reading as those using traditional approaches. They also learned at roughly twice the rate of their peers in government alternative learning programs. In Lebanon, on average children playing Can’t Wait to Learn improved their math mastery score by 7% in just twelve weeks.

Some people may think that tablets are an expensive way of delivering education – what would you say to them?

It’s not surprising some people might think that, but our research also includes determining the cost of delivering Can’t Wait to Learn in comparison with other alternative education approaches. In the small-scale trials conducted so far – which included considerable research costs – the cost per child has been around $400. However, plans to go to scale in Sudan would bring this figure down to around $30. At $30 per child per year, Can’t Wait to Learn is cheaper than government schooling in any of the countries it is active in, with the Ugandan government spending around $44 per child, Sudan $76, Jordan $560 and Lebanon $1,170.

How do you charge the tablets when there is little infrastructure in a country?

Solar powered charging stations ensure that the tablets are fully charged and ready to be played during every session. In the future, we’re looking into how these charging stations can be produced locally, both to cut costs further and stimulate the local economy.

Don’t the tablets and headphones break easily?

We’ve invested time in testing different hardware, to find out which models of tablet and headphones are best suited for each context. We also train local partner IT and project staff in basic hardware and software problem solving skills, and they can also access support from War Child’s helpdesk.

And you have won a number of awards for the program, right?

Yes! We’re really honored to have been awarded the 2018 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for ICT in Education, as well as the 2018 Public Award for Best Innovation from the Dutch Coalition for Humanitarian Innovation. Can’t Wait to Learn has also been selected as a finalist in the 2019 Games for Change Awards under the category, ‘Most Significant Impact’.

Where is the program currently running and what are your plans for expansion?

Can’t Wait to Learn is currently helping children access education in Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda. We’re about to start up in Chad, working closely with UNHCR and our NGO partner Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Our future plans for scaling up Can’t Wait to Learn are very ambitious! But they’re based on having the evidence to show that it’s a solution that works and can be easily scaled at a reasonable cost. We’re also exploring start-up in  Colombia within the next year. South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali…the approach can be adapted to the context and stakeholder landscape pretty much anywhere. Our aim is to reach 1,500,000 children by 2023. How incredible would that be, to think that many children could be on the path to a brighter future thanks to playing Can’t Wait to Learn?!

When Mothers Thrive, We All Thrive

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Today we celebrate the contribution of mothers everywhere.

Nowhere is their impact felt more than in the communities in which we work, where mothers and their children face the brutal impact of war.

Mothers put everything on the line to protect their children – even when faced with the violence, poverty and chaos that come with armed conflict. This is why War Child is fully committed to supporting mothers – so that they can give their children the best chance of a brighter future.

To show how much mothers do in war zones, we’ve put together a special Mother’s Day video, narrated by Zosia Mamet, just for you:

On this special day, join us in standing up for mothers and the children they protect by donating to War Child.

The World Is In Crisis. We Need Your Help.

FOR A CHILD FACING THE BRUTAL IMPACT OF WAR, TIME STOPS. FOR WAR CHILD, IT’S TIME TO BEGIN.

From Yemen to Afghanistan, South Sudan to Somalia, war is throwing entire regions of the world into turmoil. Children are caught in the middle, the most vulnerable and blameless casualties. That is why we launched our Crisis Response Fund, an opportunity for you to have a real impact in a world where it is increasingly unsafe to be a child.

War is chaotic and unpredictable. It can flare up without notice, turn communities into battlefields and drive families from their homes within hours. It is at this critical moment when War Child’s support is needed more than ever. To protect children caught up in sudden violence, we must respond with flexibility and speed.

At the outbreak of war, we can’t watch and wait for the media, governments or international bureaucracies to catch up while thousands of children are at their most vulnerable and unprotected.

Help us respond faster than ever before with a gift to the Crisis Response Fund.

Your donation to the Crisis Response Fund will allow us to take action immediately and provide fast-acting, critical support to children when war breaks out. With your support, War Child will be able to respond faster than ever to the world’s most pressing emergencies and crises, including:

  • Support children affected by the war in Yemen, where an estimated 80% of civilians are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and civilians are being routinely targeted by warring factions.
  • Support to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh where 400,000 children are living in disastrous conditions after being brutally forced to flee their homes by their own government in Myanmar.
  • Support for Syrian families displaced by a brutal conflict and now facing a struggle to survive and rebuild in refugees camps and cities and villages decimated by fighting.

Join our efforts and donate today. You will receive regular updates on how your contribution is protecting and supporting children in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

Once you’ve donated, don’t forget to share this important appeal with your friends and family!

#NotOptional: War Child joins over 40 organizations around the world to uphold women’s and girls’ rights in crisis

WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ RIGHTS AND AGENCY IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION: A LIFE-SAVING PRIORITY

A JOINT STATEMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS ENDORSED BY MORE THAN 40 INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS

Download the PDF version

Multiple protracted crises, increasing numbers of intra-state conflicts, record levels of forced displacement global economic uncertainty, rising inequality, and increasing challenges caused by climate change threaten the lives and well-being of billions around the world.

Exacerbating these threats are new forms of extremism, xenophobia, intolerance, and isolationism, which themselves threaten to erode international human rights and humanitarian standards and law. These laws and standards have afforded, for 71 years, unprecedented protection of individuals, stability within and between states, and advancements in human, social and economic well-being.

Amid these trends, an estimated 67 million women and girls are in need of humanitarian assistance. Impacted by conflict, violence and natural disasters, women and girls in emergencies are at heightened risk of gender-based violence and trafficking, unintended pregnancy, maternal morbidity and mortality, unsafe abortions, and child, early and forced marriage. Despite the immediate, long-term and largely preventable impacts of these realities, the unique needs, priorities and capacities of women and girls are not treated with the same urgency as shelter, water and food aid in emergency response and recovery efforts, and opportunities to transform unequal gender relations and shift harmful gender norms are being missed.

In the year of the 25th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, and as the world prepares to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 20th Anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325, it is high-time that the international community rally together to uphold women’s and girls’ rights where they are furthest behind: in conflict and emergency settings.

A more systematic approach for ensuring that humanitarian action responds to women’s and girls’ rights and needs is within reach. Governments, donors, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, and national and local actors are taking important steps to enact new policies, establish new standards and transform the ways in which humanitarian agencies and the humanitarian coordination system plan and operate on the ground. Landmark agreements and initiatives[1] embody unprecedented political will and practical guidance towards a more gender-responsive humanitarian system. The success of these efforts depends on these tools and guidance being fully implemented, and ensuring that women and girls are not only seen and heard within the humanitarian system, but able to play meaningful roles in shaping humanitarian policies and programs, and holding humanitarian actors accountable.

Drawing on emerging initiatives, best-practice, research and the perspectives of affected communities themselves, the following recommendations provide a blueprint for governments, donors, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, and national and local actors to work in tandem to drive system-level changes and put women’s and girls’ rights and agency at the centre of every humanitarian response.

WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ VOICE AND LEADERSHIP

Ensure collaboration with women and girls across the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and through all phases of every humanitarian response. It is essential that humanitarian actors acknowledge women’s and girls’ roles as first responders and agents of change, as well as the best representatives of their needs in humanitarian crises. Whether women and girls have organized themselves into a women-, youth- or girl-led group, or they come forward through a community initiative, women and girls need to be consulted and their voices, specific needs and hopes need to be heard. Particular effort should be made to reach marginalized women and girls, including women with disabilities, indigenous women, elderly women, and women of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, engaging them as active partners, and building on their needs and capacities. Governments, donors, UN agencies, humanitarian organizations, and national and local actors can play key roles in communicating the value of women-led partnerships and pushing for systematic and meaningful approaches for promoting women’s and girls’ voice and leadership in coordination and decision-making processes through all phases of every humanitarian response. Donors must also hold international non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies accountable for the quality and inclusivity of partnerships and collaboration with women’s and girls’ rights actors by Humanitarian Coordinators, Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs), clusters, sector working groups, Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNO), and Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP).[2]

Provide for safe spaces for women and adolescent girls in every humanitarian response. Humanitarian crises often provide pretext for women and girls to reflect upon and collectively challenge gender inequality, discriminatory social norms and prevailing power imbalances. It is critical that governments, donors, United Nations agencies and civil society organizations ensure that women and girls have access to safe spaces where they can think through the issues facing them and develop strategies for addressing them, drawing on support and resources from other stakeholders, in every humanitarian response.

Invest in gender equality in emergencies specialists from the Global South. Donors and UN agencies should commit to longer-term humanitarian investments – both through international and national civil society organizations – aimed at enabling the development of cadres of gender equality in emergencies specialists from the Global South. Terms of reference for such roles must be carefully drafted in order to mitigate the risk that such investments lead to the creation of bureaucracies that could impede the agency and leadership of grassroots women and local women’s and girls’ rights organisations. Support from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap) and mentorship modalities can help ensure the sustainability of gender capacity at country-level.

Structure funding mechanisms to reach women’s and girls’ rights organizations, in particular women- and youth-led organizations. Donors and United Nations agencies should ensure that funding directly reaches women’s and girls’ rights organizations, especially those led by women and youth. This involves structuring funding mechanisms to ensure that such organizations are not forced to compete with international humanitarian actors in the same funding windows, including by earmarking a percentage of funding for local women- and youth-led organizations.[3] Recognizing the importance of building the capacity of women’s and girls’ rights organizations to be sustainable, donors should also provide funding that is not tied to specific activities, but instead focuses on providing the training, skills and support required for women’s and girls’ rights organizations to access and influence decision-makers. In addition, donors and UN agencies should use a mix of funding mechanisms to reach different sized organizations, from grassroots groups to national and regional women- and youth-led organizations. Finally, in keeping with Grand Bargain commitments and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), donors and UN agencies must strengthen internal monitoring systems to track the percentage and type of funding reaching women- and youth-led groups and organizations in crises.

Standardize budgeting for gender-specific activities, expertise and outcomes. Donors should ensure that NGO and UN proposal budgets provide for gender-specific activities, expertise and outcomes. Where possible, donors should support standalone GiE programming. In order to effectively implement gender-responsive and, more importantly, gender-transformative programming, project budgets must include targeted funding for gender equality training, gender-specific expertise and analysis, activities and outcomes, as well as systematic collection and analysis of sex- and age-disaggregated data, at a minimum.

EQUITABLE ACCESS TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES

Ensure access to sexual and reproductive health and rights in every humanitarian response. Donors and United Nations agencies should provide policy support, investment, and accountability mechanisms to ensure that gender-responsive and adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are treated as a core element of a non-negotiable, basic healthcare package in every humanitarian response, in line with global standards.[4]

Ensure health services are rights-based, gender-responsive and adolescent-friendly. Donors, UN agencies, national and local authorities should take concrete steps to ensure health services respect and fulfill women’s and girl’s sexual and reproductive rights in line with global norms and standards. This must include measures to address the specific barriers faced by adolescent and unmarried girls and funding for adolescent-centred services, including comprehensive and age-appropriate information and services.

Ensure health services respond to women’s and girls’ needs. Donors, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations should provide for meaningful monitoring, complaint and feedback systems that elevate women’s and girls’ voices and priorities, and ensure they have meaningful roles in shaping health services and driving accountability. This must include resourcing and mandating proactive efforts to meaningfully involve women and girls, as well as women- and youth-led groups, in decision-making.

Invest in health systems and ensure predictable and flexible funding for sexual and reproductive health services during acute crises, protracted crises and recovery. The nature of crises is changing and so must our responses: crises are starting more unexpectedly, lasting longer, and affecting more people. Post-conflict countries have fallen back into crisis without warning, while others brace for cyclical natural disasters that have shortened their recovery period. Donors, governments and UN agencies must invest in health systems strengthening and humanitarian preparedness to prepare health systems to withstand shocks and to ensure that lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services are not interrupted in times of crisis. Donors must also coordinate investments along the humanitarian-to-development continuum to ensure reliable and predictable funding for SRH during acute crisis as well as long-term, protracted crises. Investments in health services during times of crisis and recovery are a powerful opportunity to “build back better”, improving policies and strengthening the capacity and resilience of health systems.

 

PREVENTION AND RESPONSE TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Ensure GBV prevention and response services are prioritized and funded in every humanitarian response. Access to comprehensive survivor-centered GBV response services should be explicitly addressed from the onset of every humanitarian response. In each context, services should be based on an analysis and identification of the distinct needs and realities of women, girls, boys and men, as well as sub-groups facing higher risks of GBV, including adolescent girls, unaccompanied girls, girls living in institutions or on the street, and women and girls with disabilities. United Nations agencies and cluster leads should ensure these needs are reflected in humanitarian response plans, and donors should dedicate funding for specialized, survivor-centred GBV preparedness efforts and services, in line with the “GBV Accountability Framework on tackling GBV in emergencies, as developed by the Real-Time Accountability Partnership (RTAP).

Support women’s and girls’ rights actors’ GBV response work. Local community structures, including local women’s and girls’ rights actors, are often amongst the first responders in times of crisis, providing safe spaces and other kinds of support to individuals and communities that experience or are at risk of GBV and other kinds of violence, abuse and exploitation.[5] Yet these groups often struggle for support and recognition within humanitarian system. Donors, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, and national and local actors should engage local women’s and girls’ rights actors in ways that are meaningful and empowering of their roles and priorities. Multi-stakeholder processes, such as Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies, should be leveraged to involve local women’s and girls’ rights actors and to support their efforts and leadership in the development of community-based strategies and mechanisms to provide protection for women and girls at risk of GBV, and in strengthening accountability to the needs of women and girls.[6]

Invest in long-term capacity and accountability across the wider humanitarian sector for GBV prevention and risk mitigation.Donors and UN agencies should increase funding to address GBV in humanitarian settings. In addition to funding specialized GBV response, donors and UN agencies must increase investments towards the improvement of monitoring tools and practices, longer-term capacity and accountability across the wider humanitarian sector to prevent and mitigate GBV in all sectors of the humanitarian response, in line with the IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action. There should also be stronger support for advocacy to end gender-discriminatory nationality laws that increase the risk of statelessness among the children of refugee women and hamper their families freedom of movement and ability to return post-conflict.

Support international mechanisms to investigate and prosecute cases of sexual and gender based violence. Governments, donors, UN agencies, humanitarian organizations, and national and local actors should address gender- and age-based challenges in the investigation and prosecution of gender-based crimes and violations against women and children. This should include specific measures to address the lack of expertise on both gender and age within investigative teams, to ensure the systematic collection of age and sex disaggregated data, and the complete, accurate and impartial naming of perpetrators.

PREVENTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT, EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE

Support multi-year organizational change processes. Donors should work with United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, and national and local actors to fund and support multi-year plans aimed at addressing the root causes of sexual exploitation and abuse, including gender inequality and other power imbalances, and accountability framework challenges that allow sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse to persist. Periodic reporting against these plans by individual agencies should be promoted at a bilateral level by donors, and should reflect and reinforce the inherent inter-connections between PSHEA, gender, inclusion and accountability to affected populations (AAP).[7] Donors themselves should also commit to developing similar organizational plans. Above all, education is the key to preventing sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based discrimination. There are some fantastic online resources that can be used for this purpose. For example, the website for this sexual harassment lawyer here goes into detail about how to identify common forms of sexual harassment and how to determine the best course of legal action.

Promote evidence-based learning and best-practice. Prevention and response practices and organizational accountability should be supplemented with knowledge translation and sharing initiatives. Donors should support agencies with expertise in gender equality to leverage evidence-based gender programming, networks, and experience with vulnerable communities to harness, translate and share that knowledge with the aim of improving PSHEA best-practice (including with different ages, religious, ethnic and other minority groups) throughout the humanitarian sector.

Ensure ‘zero tolerance’ is not conflated with ‘zero reporting’. Donors, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have a crucial role to play in reinforcing the message that zero reported SEA cases does not equal “success.” Humanitarian organizations should be held accountable for adhering to standards of best practice, transparency and accountability as set out under the IASC Strategy on Protection from and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

Promote decent work and eliminate legal and policy barriers preventing women from safely generating income. Women and girls in humanitarian settings, particularly protracted crises, suffer economic marginalization and exploitation. Many may have lost or become separated from family members, becoming sole earners. National governments should eliminate laws discriminating against women and establish appropriate minimum wages, equal pay for work of equal value, maternity protection and paid parental leave and create a policy and regulatory environment that is supportive of formal labour market access for refugees and displaced populations.

Support and finance economic programmes that have women’s empowerment as a primary objective. Lack of economic opportunities for women, unequal access to resources, and rigid gender norms can force women into commercial sexual exploitation or girls into child labour or early and forced marriage, all of which heighten the risk of GBV. Households are also thrown into crisis with increased IPV by male partners and intensified unpaid care work as fragility and insecurity increases and access to justice, resources and public services declines. International actors including financial institutions, multilaterals, donors, the private sector and foundations should include women’s economic empowerment as a goal in economic development strategies, increase multi-year funding early in a crisis in order to yield change in discriminatory practices and fund women-led organizations delivering a gender transformative approach.

This position is endorsed by: Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, Action contre la Faim, ActionAid, ActionAid UK, Canadian Council for International Co-operation, CARE International, Center for Democratic Education, Center for Reproductive Rights, Centro de Estudios e Investigación sobre Mujeres (CEIM), Community Partners International, Countdown 2030 Europe, Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, Doctors of the World – Greece, European Network of Migrant Women (ENOMW), federación planificación familiar estatal, Global Citizen, Humanity and Inclusion – Handicap International, Indigenous Refugees Movement, International Center for Research On Women, International Medical Corps, International Planned Parenthood Association, International Rescue Committee, INTERSOS, Islamic Relief Canada, KULU-Women and Development, Legal Action Worldwide, Light for the World, Marie Stopes International, Médecins du Monde Canada, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children Canada, Save the Children US, Sex og Politikk (IPPF Norway), War Child Canada, WIDE – Network for Women’s Rights and Feminist Perspectives in Development (Austria), WIDE+ (Women In Development Europe+), Women Deliver, Women Empowerment Organization, Women’s Refugee Commission.

[1] Including the Grand Bargain, the New Ways of Working, the Global Compact on Refugees and its Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, the G7 Whistler declaration on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian action, the IPCI Ottawa Statement of Commitment, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee policy and accountability framework on gender-equality and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian action, the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies, the Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action, the IASC Gender Handbook for Humanitarian Action, and the Interagency Field Manual for Reproductive Health in Crisis.

[2] Whilst this collaboration will need to be contextualized, key entry-points include: the input into and validation processes around Humanitarian Needs Overviews and Humanitarian Response Plans; multi-sector needs assessments and sector-specific assessments; as well as reviews of access by local women’s and girls’ groups to CBPFs.

[3] See: OECD DAC Network on Gender Equality (2016). ‘Donor support to Southern women’s rights organizations: OECD findings.’

[4] Both the 2018 SPHERE humanitarian standards and the 2018 Interagency Field Manual for Reproductive Health in Crisis (IAFM) call for provision of a minimum set of life-saving, reproductive health services within 72 hours of the onset of an emergency (called the Minimum Initial Service Package in the IAFM). The IAFM also calls for transition to comprehensive SRH services as soon as feasible (within 6 months).

[5] See: CARE International (2018). Women responders: Placing local action at the centre of humanitarian protection programming.

[6] For example, proposed consultations in coming months (led by the Canadian government) to develop the next phase of the Roadmap for the Call to Action post-2020 should engage women’s and girls’ rights actors and other local actors early and consistently.

[7] Precedents include DFID’s investment in a three-year organizational change and learning process on safeguarding issues at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). That investment recognizes that an effective approach to safeguarding requires attention to complex gender issues in the staff-force and institutional culture, and that tackling these issues is not cost free.

War Child joins 23 other NGOs to call on Germany to renew suspension of arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia

On 4 year anniversary of Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, 24 NGOs call on Chancellor Angela Merkel & Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas to renew suspension of arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia:

March 26, 2019

Dear Chancellor Merkel,

As organizations working to protect civilians in armed conflict, we urge you to renew the suspension of export licenses for arms transfers to Saudi Arabia for use in the conflict in Yemen. This decision would be consistent with Germany’s legal obligations and would align the country with a growing number of its European neighbours.

In March 2018, Germany joined several other European states, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland and announced it would refuse the transfer of new licenses to Saudi Arabia. Doing so prevented the export of some arms produced by France and the United Kingdom that require parts and components of German origin.

Among European Union member states, France and the United Kingdom are more and more isolated in their refusal to even consider stopping the sale of arms components to the coalition. Rather than undertake action that would help to end atrocities in Yemen, France and the United Kingdom have publicly criticized Germany’s decision and encouraged you to resume arms exports to Saudi Arabia. Doing so risks weakening international standards for arms control and may violate obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), including “…respecting and ensuring respect for international humanitarian law…” for “preventing human suffering;” the European Union Common Position on Arms Exports, which requires Member States to ensure “…respect by that country of international humanitarian law…” of the recipient country; and finally German national law.

Ending arms exports to all parties to the conflict in Yemen is the only position that is in line with the agreed upon European and international obligations, including the ATT and Common Position, and international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

Since March 26, 2015 when the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition began their military intervention in Yemen, the coalition has carried out over 19,000 air strikes—one every 106 minutes. Strikes have routinely struck civilians and civilian infrastructure; in their 2019 report, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen, which documented serious violations by the Houthis, also concluded that Saudi/UAE precautionary measures to protect civilians are “largely inadequate and ineffective.”

Additionally, the coalition’s imposed restrictions on imports of vital food, medicine, and fuel has greatly contributed to what the UN has called “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” Twenty-four million people require humanitarian assistance and 10 million are on the verge of famine. Additionally, throughout the conflict, coalition airstrikes have destroyed water treatment facilities and pipelines and major transport hubs—crippling access to clean water. There have been 1.3 million suspected cases of cholera—the worst outbreak in modern history.

The Saudi/UAE coalition has also struck medical facilities and personnel critical to providing lifesaving care and support to civilians in need. Saudi/UAE coalition airstrikes have damaged or destroyed hospitals and clinics, sharply contracting the availability of health care when the number of people in Yemen requiring health care has skyrocketed.  Airstrikes have also struck vital power and other civilian infrastructure essential to protecting human health and wellbeing in Yemen.

We hope that Germany will continue to take a principled position and one that aligns with your legal obligations, including under German domestic law prohibiting the export of arms, including spare parts and components, where there is a major risk they will be used to commit or facilitate violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The coalition’s conduct of war in Yemen since 2015 has made these risks clear.

We also hope that during its tenure in the UN Security Council, Germany will demonstrate similar leadership. The April 1 Arria Formula meeting organized by France and Germany during their successive Security Council presidencies, which will focus on the protection of humanitarian and medical personnel and facilities, and the broader protection of civilians in armed conflict, is an important step. It is critical that Germany utilize all tools available during and after your Council presidency, including briefings, statements, and resolutions, to better protect the right to civilians and ensure accountability for all parties responsible for violations of international law in Yemen.

Sincerely,

  1. Action Against Hunger
  2. Action by Christians Against Torture (ACAT)
  3. Action on Armed Violence
  4. Alliance internationale pour la défense des droits et des libertés (AIDL)
  5. CARE
  6. Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)
  7. Christian Aid
  8. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights)
  9. Haitham Al-Asbahy
  10. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
  11. Humanity & Inclusion/Handicap International
  12. Human Rights Watch
  13. Human Rights Clinic, Columbia Law School
  14. Médecins du Monde
  15. Mwatana for Human Rights
  16. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  17. Observatoire des armements
  18. Physicians for Human Rights
  19. Salam for Yemen
  20. Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights
  21. STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities, U.S., U.K., and France
  22. The Yemen Peace Project
  23. War Child
  24. Wogood for Human Security

Copy to:

Mr Heiko Maas, Foreign Minister, Germany

UN Security Council Members

This Universal Children’s Day, Let’s Play for Change

War Child Canada, War Child Holland, and War Child UK have come together with IKEA Foundation because of our shared belief that all children have the right to play. Regardless of their circumstances. Together we build Safe Spaces for vulnerable children. So children can play, learn and develop.

LET’S PLAY FOR CHANGE

Millions of children worldwide are forced to live in fear—and their number is growing. These children face an uncertain future. With the help of IKEA Foundation, War Child is working in Lebanon and Jordan to respond to the needs of children affected by the ongoing Syrian crisis.

Through the IKEA Good Cause campaign Let’s Play for Change, War Child can support 18,000 Syrian and vulnerable local children in Jordan and Lebanon. Our efforts will protect them from abuse, exploitation and violence. And enable them to play, reclaim their childhood and rebuild their future. Inside our network of ‘Safe Spaces’ children from all communities can play, learn and develop. In these Safe Spaces, children take part in creative and educational activities that help build their resilience and improve their coping skills.

OUR IMPACT IN LEBANON AND JORDAN

PROTECTION AND SUPPORT

Our work in Jordan and Lebanon sees us set up child protection structures and provide psychosocial support to parents and other important adults in children’s lives. War Child is currently the leading organisation providing education, protection and psychosocial support services to Syrian refugee children inside Jordan and Lebanon. The other participating organisations are Save the Children, Handicap International, Room to Read, Special Olympics and UNICEF.

IKEA FOUNDATION

IKEA Foundation believes all children have a fundamental right to play, learn and develop. Through their Good Cause campaign, the foundation wants to create awareness and drive positive impact for children’s right to play. Read more on the IKEA Foundation.