AN OPEN LETTER | COVID-19 AND THE IMPACT OF PANDEMIC RESPONSE PLANS THREATEN IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM RISKS TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND CHILD PROTECTION

International civil society organizations and child-focused agencies are calling on national governments and multilateral institutions to immediately strengthen child protection in COVID-19 response frameworks and to provide sufficient donor support to implement these responses effectively. The pandemic creates profound risks to children’s well-being and healthy development. 

Children particularly at risk include: children confined in abusive homes; children who reply on social services; children without parental care; children with health issues or disabilities; children sent “home” from residential or other alternative care settings; children deprived of liberty; and refugee, internally displaced, migrant and stateless children. The death of parents/caregivers, economic recession and xenophobic discrimination contributes to greater child protection violations.