Policy Brief: COVID-19 Child Protection in Fragile and Humanitarian Contexts

Globally, one in six children live in areas affected by armed conflict. Of the 25.9 million refugees worldwide, over half are children. An additional 17 million children remain internally displaced. These girls and boys are facing heightened vulnerability because of the fragile contexts they live in, marked by risks to their safety, exposure to violence, and inability to exercise their rights. COVID-19 is only increasing and amplifying protection concerns for children.

World Vision is globally responding to COVID-19 in 70 countries, with a focus on fragile and humanitarian contexts. Over the next eighteen months, World Vision’s response aims to reach at least 72 million people, half of them children, focusing on situations of pre-existing vulnerability and fragility, where children are most at risk - conflict affected contexts, urban slums and refugee settings. 

This brief outlines the child protection risks girls and boys are facing, and the proactive measures all duty bearers and stakeholders, including governments, donors, the United Nations (UN), and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) must take, to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on children in fragile and humanitarian contexts.