Policy Brief: Protection and Care for Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Emergencies

Save the Children’s legal and policy framework for the protection of unaccompanied and separated children (UNSC) is based on international treaties, guidelines, and principles. From these documents, the following are of particular relevance to UNSC:

• The right to a name, legal identity and birth registration;
• The right to physical and legal protection;
• The right not to be separated from their parents;
• The right to provision of their basic subsistence;
• The right to care and assistance appropriate to their age and developmental needs;
• The right to participate in decisions about their future.

This policy brief includes detailed instructions on how to prevent the separation of children in emergencies at both the family and national levels. In the case of separation, options are also given on family tracing, reunification, reintegration and various forms of alternative and interim care.

Concluding remarks are made on how both governments and humanitarian agencies can work to handle UNSC, from capacity building to other tools of cooperation.