A significant deviation or loss in body functioning or structure. Impairments may be either temporary or permanent, and people may have multiple impairments.

A rights-based approach to programming, aiming to ensure all people who may be at risk of being excluded have equal access to basic services and a voice in the development and implementation of those services. It requires that organisations make dedicated efforts to address and remove barriers to access services. Inclusion also refers more broadly to providing a welcoming environment for all children and designing a service to meet the needs of a diversity of children.

When an infectious disease occurs in greater numbers than expected in a community or region or during a season. An outbreak may occur in one community or even extend to several countries.

Forms of justice enforcement and dispute resolution that are not an integrated part of the formal justice system and which have a degree of effectiveness, stability and legitimacy within a designated local constituency. Most often based on a normative framework deriving from tradition/custom, and/or religion, on occasions with integrated elements from the national legal framework and/or international human rights standards. In many cases informal justice systems draw on a variety of legal sources. Also called customary justice systems.

Areas where groups of housing units have been constructed on land that the occupants have no legal claim to or occupy illegally; or unplanned settlements and areas where housing is not in compliance with current planning and building regulations (unauthorized housing).

The expressed willingness to participate in services. Informed assent is sought from children who are by nature or law too young to give consent, but who are old enough to understand and agree to participate in services. When obtaining informed assent, practitioners must share, in a child-friendly manner, information on: services and options available, potential risks and benefits, personal information to be collected and how it will be used, and confidentiality and its limits.

Voluntary agreement of an individual who has the capacity to take a decision, who understands what they are being asked to agree to, and who exercises free choice. When obtaining informed consent, practitioners must share, in a child-friendly manner, information on: services and options available, potential risks and benefits, personal information to be collected and how it will be used, and confidentiality and its limits. Informed consent is usually not sought from children under age 15. 

An integrated approach allows two or more sectors to work together towards a shared programme outcome(s), based on capacities and joint needs identification and analysis, and, thus, promotes equal benefits or mutually beneficial processes and outcomes among all involved sectors. See Pillar 4. 

Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border.

The body of international treaties and established legal rules (including customary international law) that govern States' obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights.

Besides the provisions of human rights law, situations of armed conflict are also governed by international humanitarian law. The specific provisions that apply depend on whether the conflict is international or non-international (civil) in character. Various instruments, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols, regulate the conduct of hostilities and place duties on both State and non-State armed actors.

A set of rules and procedures that aims to protect, firstly, persons seeking asylum from persecution and, secondly, those recognised as refugees under the relevant instruments.