Newly founded child protection service mechanisms missed creating important new positions. Instead, the existing public service providers were given additional roles and responsibilities. No clear roles and responsibilities were added to their job descriptions, no remuneration was provided to compensate for expanded roles, and only limited additional funding, capacity building, and technical support were provided. At all levels, we can see that the budget for child protection remains insufficient, especially at the primary level. (Source: Child Protection Mapping Survey 2021)
As a result, child protection violations, such as neglect, corporal punishment, peer bullying, and exploitation, remain pressing challenges. Due to limited accessibility to child protection services, children with disabilities, children of ethnic minorities, street children, migrant children, children engaged in child labor, child victims of human trafficking, and children involved in crime still have many difficulties accessing child protection and information about services.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the vulnerability of children in Mongolia and violence against children. We’ve observed that many children—too many children—have required protection, and an increased number of children have set anchor at temporary shelters and one-stop service centres (OSSCs). In addition, it is reported that the number of child injuries and deaths has increased during the pandemic—not only in Mongolia but worldwide. Experts see a clear link between increased family conflicts and reduced parental supervision and families experiencing socio-economic difficulties, including alcohol abuse. Furthermore, COVID-19 tested and exposed deficiencies in national policies, capacity, services, and cooperation in child protection during a state of emergency.
Therefore, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation committed to supporting the Time’s Up for Sexual Violence Against Children project, working in partnership with the EU Delegation in Mongolia. The project was successfully implemented by World Vision Mongolia and the local NGO Beautiful Hearts. The project implementers established very successful partnerships with the government and other NGOs working with children. It is important to build a better and stronger network between all actors and count on productive relationships, particularly with civil society organizations (CSOs) to combat child sexual violence in Mongolia.
According to statistics on crimes against sexual rights, liberty, and security, 160 children were victims of sexual violence in 2020. An average of 400-500 rapes are committed each year, and 50-60 percent of them involve children with injuries and trauma (General Police Department, 2020). With this in mind, World Vision and CSOs started an online campaign called “I Promise” to increase parents’ and adults’ awareness of protecting their children from sexual abuse. The campaign also encourages parents to pay greater attention and care for their children through education about safe and unsafe touching, how to respond when an incident occurs, and ways to seek help.
In rapid response to COVID-19 impacts, the project provided vulnerable children and households with packages of basic essentials. Packages of food, educational materials, and hygiene supplies were distributed to 250 vulnerable households and reaching 500 children, and 10 different cases for at-risk children were provided. More then 1,300vulnerable people directly benefitted from this support. It was important to work with local and district-level governors to guarantee the response measure’s quick, effective, and all-inclusive implementation.
For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/bi.amlay
