Our Work

• Child Centred Community Development
  • Approach
  • Practice
  • Child Poverty
  • Child Rights
    • Survival
    • Development
    • Participation
    • Child Protection
    • The Convention
  • Rights Based Programing
• Areas of Work
• Program Countries
• Child Sponsorship
• Priority Projects
• Campaigns
• Teachers and Schools

Child Protection

Children have a right to protection.

Protection begins by ensuring the child’s right to an identity, including a name and nationality. Children are also entitled to live within a family and to have their best interests cared for in the event of a separation. Children must be protected from kidnapping and trafficking as well as physical, mental and sexual abuse. Children should also be protected from work that threatens their health, education or development.

Unfortunately protection of children cannot be taken for granted. Children living in poverty are particularly at risk. Poor children often miss out on registration at birth and go on missing out throughout life as they struggle to claim the development opportunities they are entitled to. Poor families are often fragmented due to migration for work, or the loss of a parent to disease. Poor children are also highly vulnerable and frequently become the victims of sexual abuse or traffickers. Due to household poverty poor children are often forced to work to support the family thereby denying them the chance to get ahead through education.

In view of this situation Plan is highly committed to the protection of children. Plan has invested heavily in promoting birth registration as the front door to protection. If children can be registered early they then have some hope to claim their development entitlements and be factored into their government's planning and budgeting for services like education and health services.

Plan also works with communities to create child friendly environments. These are villages and communities that protect children’s rights and listen to children. An important feature of some Plan communities is the creating of child rights clubs which help make children aware of their right to protection and offer a mechanism for stopping physical and sexual abuse.

 

 

 

About Plan

Plan is one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world. We work with communities in 50 developing countries and raise funds to support our work in 21 countries like Australia. By actively involving children, and working at a grassroots level with no religious or political agenda, we unite and inspire people around the globe to transform the world for children.