Non-discrimination in emergency response and preparedness workshop
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Nearly five years have passed since the devastating tsunami changed millions of children's lives in December 2004. Many thousands of children lost their lives and many surviving children - especially those living in poverty - are the most vulnerable victims of a disaster and its aftermath.
Along the way there have been significant challenges and lessons learned to improve the way we respond to emergencies. Cases of children in a position of double vulnerability to being exploited and excluded is one of the issues we tackle discrimination in emergencies.
Time pressure, uncertainty, budget limitation, gender norms, ethnicity, religious belief and residence permits can be barriers that highly influence the further risks of discrimination and the access to basic services to vulnerable children at the time of crises.
To encourage good practice and foster awareness of non-discrimination in emergency response and preparedness, Save the Children Sweden organised a 4 days workshop for 30 international and local partners in Bangkok last July. The aim is to improve their focus on the most powerless groups and ensure that emergency responses and preparedness programme are more effective.
The workshop provided orientation on challenging discrimination for a wide range of stakeholders and children. Participants learned to identify the impact of emergencies on children as well as respond to discrimination issues in their programmes. This approach assists their works to move towards the inclusion, participation and protection of children.
Salisa Wilainuwat, a programme social worker of Catholic for Emergency Relief and Refugees said "The context of discrimination at each area is different, I believe. I am working with thousands of refugees at Thai-Burmese border. This workshop helps me address gaps in legislation, policies and services to protect and support the most vulnerable group. It’s important to have the right attitude and skill to think for the best interest of the child and include who are often excluded from the access to basic services and activities that should be accessible to all.”
Non-discrimination is one of the four principles of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In emergencies it must be a key component to support and integrate in the development and implementation of local, national and international policies and programmes to achieve equality and positive change in children’s lives.
Ketsarin Wang-ngon, a participant who works in the Southern Thailand said, “Emergency situations require quick response and sometimes we overlook at discrimination existed in our daily work one way or another. Even food we provide to people that might be against their religious belief. It can affect health and nutrition of children. This workshop gives me a better understanding of discrimination in relation to implementation. We need to find out and respond to the needs of all children carefully”.
While the world’s focus has largely moved on after the wave, children and families living in the wake of the disaster still face a long road to recovery. Save the Children’s work has benefited hundreds of thousands of individuals, the majority of whom are children, in numerous towns and villages affected by the tsunami. Still we commit to work for the better change in children’s lives.