Content area
Abstract
Marginalized and vulnerable populations disproportionately experience the most devastating impacts when global catastrophes arise. Children — and in particular, children living in conflict-affected areas — constitute such a population. Conflict-affected children are likely to experience detrimental impacts on their human rights protection, which is a serious concern in and of itself. Unfortunately, such issues have only been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. An important puzzle and policy dilemma arises against this backdrop — for all ethical, legal, and practical reasons — how to best protect the human rights of children in conflict in the broader context of the pandemic. This issue area makes the work of international organizations essential, particularly ones that are well-positioned to protect children who are impacted by intersecting catastrophes. Thus, the article analyzes the policies of three prominent international organizations — UNICEF, UNHCR, and Save the Children — in order to draw lessons for future recovery and rebuilding efforts. The article finds that there is a need to centralize human rights of children in conflict within the broader pandemic recovery framework. Organizations need to go beyond simply decimating information and build stronger monitoring mechanism that can further aid data-driven studies along with actionable policy measures.