UNICEF proposes six-point plan to protect children
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UNICEF recently introduced six measures to protect refugee children from the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. This action plan which is the key highlight of UNICEF's recent campaign is called #UprootedChildren and proposes to reunite the world with the realization of sustainable development goals and convention on the rights of the child.
There are millions of people migrating from their homeland due to violence, conflict and natural disasters, etc. The campaign was launched to step up the work with uprooted children who are most likely to live with the harsh impacts of the pandemic socially and economically, even long after the virus has been eradicated.
The six measures include ensuring all children gain access to education and to bridge the digital divide, guarantee access to health and nutrition services and make vaccines affordable and available to every child, support and protect the mental health of uprooted children from violence and exploitation, ensure clean water, sanitation and hygiene and address environmental degradation and climate change, bring down child poverty and ensure an inclusive recovery for all and redouble efforts to protect and support children and their families living through conflict, disaster and displacement.
The measures proposed gives importance not only to the physical well-being but also to the mental health of children. It urges the world to realize the plight of such children who are often made victims of xenophobia, discrimination and stigma and thereby denied proper humanitarian rights which is bound to increase in the time of the pandemic.
"This World Children's Day, we are asking governments, partners and the private sector to listen to children and prioritize their needs. As we all reimagine the future and look ahead toward a post-pandemic world, children must come first" said Henrietta Fore, the executive director of UNICEF.
UNICEF is now working in collaboration with governments and communities in 192 countries and territories to ensure that the migrant children and families who cross international borders are safe from the spread of COVID-19 and it's social and economical after effects.