A/HRC/19/63
measure, UNICEF is currently working with the Government of Haiti to register all
children in residential care centres in the country. 42
(c)
Family tracing and reunification
59.
Family tracing43 and reunification is one of the principal strategies emphasized by
international organizations and aid agencies to ensure that child protection is incorporated
into emergency response programmes. One such tool is the Inter-agency family tracing and
reunification (FTR) programme which seeks to facilitate family tracing and reunification in
an emergency and strengthen the capacity of governments to register children. 44 The
Working Group on Rapid Registration and Interim Care for Unaccompanied Children,45 in
consultation with the Haitian Government’s social welfare department, developed standard
operating procedures for family tracing and reunification following the 2010 earthquake.
As a result of their efforts, 1,303 children were reunited with their families or caregivers in
Haiti. In Eritrea, UNICEF supported 5,407 orphans and vulnerable children through family
reunification, foster care group homes and domestic adoption.
60.
Among the tools available for tracing activities is the ICRC’s website entitled
FamilyLinks,46 which seeks to help people to reconnect with relatives separated as a result
of natural disaster or conflict. Several other technologies have been developed by
corporations to help locate missing and separated persons, including Person Finder
(Google),47 Ushahidi and CrisisCommons.
61.
In Cyprus, the Social Welfare Services and the International Social Services
cooperate at the national level to locate the families of children in their country of origin. If
the family is found, a social report is prepared on the capacity of the family to accept the
child, with an assessment of the possibility of a safe return. In Myanmar, the National
Committee for Natural Disaster Management also works to reunite missing and separated
children with their parents, while providing necessary assistance to ensure the children have
access to education.
(d)
National and international adoption
62.
In every humanitarian crisis, States, international aid agencies and civil society
organizations seek to protect children by “rescuing” them from affected areas. Child
survivors are frequently mistakenly labeled as orphans and removed from their families and
communities to be transferred to orphanages or adopted into new families. This “misguided
kindness” may significantly increase the short- and long-term harm caused to children and
families who are suffering from the impact of a natural disaster. Experience has shown that
girls and boys are usually safer, better cared for and tend to recover more quickly in a
family environment within their own communities. 48
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
UNICEF’s response to the questionnaire.
Tracing refers to the process of searching for family members or primary legal or customary
caregivers or for children by their parents or caregivers, with the objective of reunification.
Save the Children, “Child Protection Fact Sheet” (see footnote 7), p. 5.
The working group is comprised of Save the Children, Heartland Alliance, UNICEF, World Vision,
Terre des Hommes, International Rescue Committee and ICRC.
See http://www.icrc.org/FAMILYLINKS.
This crisis response tool is an open database application which enables individuals to post requests for
information online or to provide information on the location of someone; it has been used in Chile,
Haiti, Japan, New Zealand and Turkey.
Save the Children, Misguided Kindness: Making the rights decisions for children in emergencies,
London, 2010; Save the Children, Protecting Children Policy brief (see footnote 37), p. 2.
13
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