Psychosocial Care and Protection of Tsunami-affected Children: Guiding principles

Exposure to natural disasters has a devastating impact on the psychological and social well-being of children, adolescents and adults. It is now widely accepted that early psychosocial interventions that help to mitigate the effect of trauma, alleviating psychological distress, and strengthen resiliency must be an integral part of humanitarian assistance. In the case of children and adolescents, psychosocial interventions also aim to maintain or re-establish their normal development process. The broad framework for planning and implementing psychosocial programmes is provided by a) the relevant Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and b) UNHCR Guidelines on Protection and Care of Refugee Children.