Child protection and rights should be taken into account when the world recovers

Last year, on this day, we were busy trying to figure out how to build a home-made robotic creature with my two daughters as part of their school assignments. We just started our 4th month of lockdown in Dakar, Senegal, and although my family was trying to stay positive, deep down we admitted that this pandemic is not going to go away soon and we will have learn to live with it. COVID-19 has tested us, our families, our relationships, our communities, and our societies in many complex and unprecedented ways.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has also been a serious test to democracies all over the world, including in the OSCE region. More than a third of OSCE participating States declared an official ‘state of public emergency’ and almost all others adopted emergency regimes of different intensity. As OSCE approaches security in a comprehensive manner, we must examine the socio-economic impact of the restrictive measures and how it has affected various groups and segments of society differently, depending on their gender, status, age, ethnicity, or belonging to a particular community, especially our children.

While children have thankfully been largely spared from the direct health effects of COVID-19, the crisis was and is having a profound effect on their situation, the enjoyment of their rights, and their general wellbeing. Globally, the right to education has been disrupted for more than 1.5 billion children around the world, as about 190 countries have imposed countrywide school closures. Girls were being hit the hardest, as in many cases they were expected to fulfil caregiving responsibilities, had unequal access to remote learning opportunities (also due to the general gender digital gap), and were at particular risk of dropping out of school entirely. Being confined at home also exposed children to increased risk of violence, including maltreatment and sexual violence.

Children in the poorest countries, and in the poorest neighborhoods, and those in already disadvantaged or vulnerable situations suffered more severely than others. Children living in the street, minority, migrant and refugee children, those who are internally displaced, children deprived of their liberty or confined in police lock-up facilities, prisons, secure care centers, migrant detention centers or camps, children living in institutions, child victims of trafficking or smuggling, children living in conflict zones, and children with disabilities are at particular risk.

Long before the outbreak of the pandemic, many Roma and Sinti students already suffered from inequality in education. As education moved online, most pupils and students quickly adapted to the new home-learning environment. However, tens of thousands of Roma students had been excluded from educational processes due to their marginalized situation and generally lacked the minimum requirements, such as quiet rooms, computer access, or internet connection. In many households, the impact of poverty also meant lack of regular and decent nutrition. Extended school closures have widened and deepened the educational gap for many Roma students, and it is expected that this will result in even higher dropout rates and loss in employment opportunities over the long term.

The pandemic also increased the vulnerability to trafficking of children. School closures led to a rise in domestic violence and economic insecurity, and the increased online presence made children more vulnerable to trafficking. Law enforcement agencies in the OSCE region reported increased grooming and exploitation of children through the Internet as the dynamics of trafficking for sexual exploitation, particularly of women and children, has shifted from the more traditional formats to various new forms of online trafficking.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has also weakened states’ ability to prevent and respond to such violations. As national referral mechanisms and child protection systems were struggling to remain operational, endangered families and children faced limited or complete lack of access to sheltered accommodation, social services, or legal guardians.

It is June 2021 now and the whole world is finding itself again. As my daughters enter the last month of the schoolyear, we are checking flight tickets with a plan to go to see my parents in Hungary and have a vacation there. Something that seemed impossible a year ago. They are happy and excited that our family can unite again and life will finally be back to normal.

As OSCE participating States are now also moving forward with various economic, social response and recovery plans, it will be essential that they pay dedicated attention to child protection needs and the rights of the child. The best interest of the child must be central in the design of relevant laws, policies and practices. Children’s views must be heard, they need to understand what is happening, and be able to shape where we are collectively heading to. We must always remember that we are handing over this world, with OSCE in it, eventually to them, so they must be made part of our decisions, and be reassured that they can count on us.