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NEGLECT and
the PROTECTION
of refugee children
A report on research in Jordan
and the Gaza Strip, Palestine
Photo Front and Back Cover: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Design and Layout: Green Communication Design
The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and research participants
in the two study countries and do not necessarily reect the views of the UK AHRC, UK FCDO, or
project partners. The publication can be freely cited. For any other information on the publication,
please contact: jh462@bath.ac.uk
For readers who would like to cite this document we suggest the following form: Jason Hart,
Mohammed Alruzzi and Caitlin Procter (2022). Neglect and the protection of refugee children:
Areport on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Bath: University of Bath.
Jason Hart, Ph.D (University of Bath)
Mohammed Alruzzi, Ph.D (University of Bath)
Caitlin Procter, Ph.D (European University Institute, Florence)
May 2022
A report on research in Jordan
and the Gaza Strip, Palestine
NEGLECT and
the PROTECTION
of refugee children
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research upon which this report is based was made possible by funding from the UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Development Oce (FCDO) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)1. As the team
leading the research, we would also like to express our gratitude to the peer researchers and translation teams
that worked tirelessly within a tight timeframe and shared with us many of their own insights as members of the
respective communities. These researchers and translators were recruited through managers at Tamer Institute,
Collateral Repair Project (CRP), Seenaryo, and Sawiyan. We are indebted to them for their collaboration, for their
generosity in responding to our many requests, and for the opportunity to learn from them. We acknowledge
the support of Karam Hayef, Obada Snobar, Amanda Lane, Asha Athman, Dina Baslan, Lara McIvor, Ahmad
Ashour, Renad Qubbaj, Heba Shorbaji, and Bissan Nateel. We are also grateful to German-Jordanian University
and our colleague there, Rawan Ibrahim. Special thanks to her and to Lamia Raei for their great assistance with
the delivery of training. Finally, we would like to say a big thank you to colleagues at Proteknôn Foundation for
Innovation and Learning who supported our work from the start and helped us with endless practical support
and invaluable advice: Claire O’Kane, Sara Lim Bertrand, Christina Torsein, Solange Fontana (consultant) and,
most particularly, Kirsten Pontalti.
LIST OF PEER RESEARCHERS, TRANSLATORS, TRANSCRIBERS, AND FACILITATORS BYCOMMUNITY:
SAWIYAN AND SEENARYO:
Peer researchers
Hassan Abdullahi Mohamud
Fowza Abdullahi Abukar
Aya Na
Manasik Abdallah Mohammed
Mohammed Hussein Adam
Randa Mustafa
Solenn Nada Khaled Majali
Khadija Abker
Theatre workshops:
Randa Mustafa (researcher)
Joyce Raie (Seenaryo facilitator)
Seba Naser(Seenaryo facilitator)
Hisham Elsharif (researcher)
Louay Dawaimeh (Seenaryo
facilitator)
Raghad Rasras(Seenaryo facilitator)
Translation support:
Mubarak Adam Abdalla Mohamed
(researcher andtranslationsupport)
Dima Hassouneh
(translationsupport)
COLLATERAL REPAIR PROJECT:
Peer researchers:
Mohammad Monther
Mohammad Almasri
Tabark Adil Saad Al-Lami
Amineh Ahmad Hroub
Yasmin Ibrahim Alahmad
Shahed Mubarak Nemr
Tarek Ziad Alnajem
Roaa Nawaf Fanoos
Taha Mamdouh Maine
Salaheddin Abdulhamid
Abouzaitoun
Zainab Majid Hameed
Sarmad Sabri Khalaf Al-Khameesi
Saja Azzam Al Mohamad
Yasameen Gorgees Sabri
Alaa AbdlmoulaAlhaj Ali
Transcribers:
Rayan Mustafa Shehada
Thabet Abd Eldulam El Jamal
Bashar Amin Al Etmeh
Nuha Mousa Qaqo Abba
Rami Bassam Matti Braz
Translators:
Rayan Mustafa Shehada
Melad Jabbar Ajwad Ajwad
Muhyi Saad Majeed Alzuhairi
TAMER INSTITUTE FOR
COMMUNITY EDUCATION:
Peer researchers:
Mohammed Abu Sanjar
Ahmed Alabed Jarbou
Roa Hassounah
Atef Atallah
Basel Alnajar
Safa Abu Alata
Mahmoud Abu Ouda
Fatimah Hassounah
Jehad Jarbou
Tamer Aldeeb
Ekram Alkurd
Yehya Alshouly
Allam Aljamal
Mohammed Qreqei
Haya Abo Ouda
Mohammed Naeem
Translators:
Aseel Alkabareety
Ahmed Abu Shammalah
Taghreed Alsayed Ahmed
Aya Musallam
Ruba Abu Shaweesh
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine iii
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS iv
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. The contexts of research 2
1.2. Living with uncertainty in
the Gaza Strip and Jordan 4
1.3. Child Protection as a
humanitarian sector 5
1.4. ‘Child Protection’ versus
‘protecting children’ 7
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT
OF RESEARCH 9
2.1. Thinking systemically 10
2.2. Neglect as the product
of a system 14
3. METHODOLOGY 17
3.1. Preparing the research 18
3.2. Project partners 18
3.3. Training 20
3.4. COVID-19 impact 23
3.5. Data analysis 24
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
PROTECTION CONCERNS 25
4.1. Conceptualising protection 26
4.2. Violence 27
4.3. Education 30
4.4. Healthcare 31
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
EFFORTS TO PROTECT 33
5.1. Turning to local authorities 34
5.2. Shielding 35
5.3. Seeking support from others 36
5.4. Taking on debt 37
5.5. Children’s efforts to
protect themselves 39
6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
ACCESSING HUMANITARIAN
ASSISTANCE 41
6.1. UNHCR and UNRWA 42
6.2. Other organisations 44
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS:
UNDERSTANDING NEGLECT 46
8. CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 51
8.1. Recommendations 54
ENDNOTES 55
List of tables
Table 1: Some key distinguishing
factors of Child Protection
and protecting children 8
Table 2: Training schedule 21
Table 3: Participant distribution 22
Table 4: Some key distinguishing
factors of Child Protection and
protecting children 52
List of gures
Figure 1: Elements of the
humanitarian system 12
Figure 2: Diagnostic depiction of impactful
connections in the humanitarian
system in Gaza 13
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine iv
CBO Community-based organization
CP Child Protection
CRP Collateral Repair Project
INGO International non-governmental organization
JD Jordanian dinar (currency)
NGO Non-governmental organization
SGBV Sexual and gender-based violence
UN United Nations
UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
NEGLECT is widely understood as the most prevalent
form of maltreatment that children are exposed to globally.
To date, however, there has been minimal focus on the extent
and nature of child neglect in settings of displacement and
armedconict.
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
v
We encourage further debate by sharing
ndings and analysis from a study
into child neglect in two humanitar-
ian settings: Jordan and the Gaza Strip,
Palestine. Field-based research included
170one-to-one interviews, focus groups, and
arts-based workshops. The research team
also conducted 20 interviews with human-
itarian professionals between February
2021 and March 2022. Four locally based
non-government organisations (NGOs)
collaborated on the project, recruiting
researchers and workshop facilitators in
Jordan from Syrian, Sudanese, Somali, and
Iraqi refugees, and in the Gaza Strip from
Palestinians registered as refugees with the
United Nations (UN). Following training by
the core research team, these ‘peer research-
ers’ conducted interviews within their own
communities. The researchers included
ve children. Those interviewed included
33 children aged 14to18 years.
According to the widely accepted denition of
‘child protection in emergencies’,2 protection
eorts should be focused on responses to and
prevention of violence, abuse, exploitation,
and neglect. The rst three may be observed
either as they occur or through their imme-
diate impact. By contrast, neglect harms
children through lack or insuciency of eort.
Neglect may give rise to violence, abuse, and
exploitation but the timeframe through which
this occurs can be long-term and the chain of
causation dicult to identify.
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Any eort to study neglect requires a clear
denition. We began with the denition
suggested in a 2018 literature-based study
in humanitarian settings: ‘Child neglect is
the intentional or unintentional failure of a
caregiver…to protect a child from actual or
potential harm or to full that child’s rights
towellbeing…’3
Our study led us to question this denition for
its identication of caregivers as solely respon-
sible for neglect. Research ndings caused
us to situate caregiver failure within a wider
social and political context, creating questions
about the role of the humanitarian system in
producing neglect both directly and indirectly.
By ‘humanitarian system’ we mean all actors
who play some role in the protection of
displaced and conict-aected children.
In addition to humanitarian organisations
with a mandate for child protection, this
potentially includes donors, host gov-
ernments, public sector employees, and
community organisations. There may also
be context-specic actors, such as the
Government of Israel that systematically
and routinely violates its obligations under
international law towards the protection of
Palestinian children living under its occupation
and blockade.
By ‘direct’ neglect we draw attention to the
failure to acknowledge and support certain
populations of children either entirely or to an
extent less than other populations of children.
This is the case in Jordan where, for example,
displaced children are supported unequally,
not due to dierences in need, but due to their
nationality. ‘Indirect’ neglect, which is given
greater focus in this report, refers to how the
humanitarian system fails to provide adequate
support to caregivers and thus undermines
their capacity to provide adequate care and
protection to children.
To illustrate our argument of neglect as the
product of a system, ndings are framed
in four categories proposed in the 2018
study: physical, medical, educational,
andsupervisory.
4 categories
NEGLECT
SUPERVISORY
PHYSICAL
MEDICAL
EDUCATIONAL
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine vii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Physical neglect (failure to keep children
safe and meet their basic needs)
Whether due to legal constraints on working
in the formal economy (Jordan) or because
of a chronic lack of employment opportu-
nities in an economy under blockade (Gaza
Strip), caregivers struggled to provide basic
needs. Reported support came in a variety
of forms including stipends from humani-
tarian organisations, occasional earnings,
one-o cash support/food vouchers from
community-based organisations (CBOs), small
gifts from kin or fellow community members,
and loans. The ad hoc nature of support does
not address the long-term predicament of
many households. Economic pressures thus
mount with consequences that may include
children taking up unsafe work.
Medical neglect (failure to seek
care for a serious physical or mental
healthcondition)
Enabling children to access care for serious
physical or mental health issues was a chal-
lenge for many caregivers. In Jordan they
typically had to invest considerable nancial
resources and time to obtain paperwork and
access medical expertise. Spending money
simply to get a consultation entailed cuts to
expenditure on other elements of the house-
hold budget. The inability of caregivers to
access care for their children was compounded
in both Jordan and the Gaza Strip by lack
of services, notably for mental health and
neurological conditions.
Educational neglect (failure to secure
a child’s education)
There are several reasons for a child’s
non-participation in school. For many
non-Syrian refugees in Jordan, lack of docu-
mentation delayed or prevented children’s
enrolment. Costs included registration,
schoolbooks, transportation, and uniforms.
For Somali and Sudanese children particularly,
school was experienced as a place where
bullying and violence went unchecked.
For some, the routine physical harm and
humiliation led to drop out.
Supervisory neglect (failure to provide
a safe environment with appropriate
adultsupervision)
Ensuring that home, neighbourhood, and
school are safe environments was a con-
siderable challenge for many caregivers. In
the Gaza Strip caregivers’ capacity to keep
children safe is inadequate in the face of
military attacks on homes, schools, and
medical facilities. In Jordan, the tasks entailed
in providing for children and ensuring their
safe access to basic services is often beyond
the capacity of caregivers. Even families with
two adult caregivers struggled to provide
supervision given their many demands on
their time. This situation was exacerbated
by the absence of extended family and
long-standing intracommunal bonds.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Brief discussion of these four categories
illustrates the need to broaden debate about
child neglect beyond common assump-
tions of caregiver failure. Instead, it is vital
to consider the incapacity of caregivers to
keep children safe and ensure their access
to essential services as a systemic problem
in which various actors and institutions are
implicated. Two initial steps are important to
build interventions that tackle child neglect in
humanitarian settings:
1. In each setting conduct a ‘neglect audit’
involving Child Protection (CP) profes-
sionals and community that traces how
the humanitarian system contributes
to neglect.
2. Address the connections between dierent
elements of the humanitarian system that
need change or strengthening to reduce
the likelihood of child neglect.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
1
“ We are living through a situation that we are not
supposed to. As adolescents we are supposed to
enjoy our life, and not think about these things. But
it has been written that we should live these things.
I hope that they do not consider this as normal,
because it is something not normal, to be honest.”
—17-year-old Somali girl, Amman,
Jordan, October 2021
1Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 2
1. INTRODUCTION
This report presents KEY FINDINGS from research
conducted between October 2020 and March 2022 in Jordan and the
GazaStrip, Palestine. The focus was on the protection of displaced and
conict-aected children, with particular attention to child neglect.4
Neglect is widely understood as the most prevalent form of mal-
treatment of children globally. To date, however, there has been little
research on this topic in settings of displacement and armed conict
where humanitarian organisations are active.
Aside from seeking to provide insight into and promote dialogue about
child neglect, the research was novel in focusing on caregivers and chil-
dren themselves. This was a departure from the usual focus on conceptual
frameworks in child protection. Enquiry led us to consider the relationship
between professionalised humanitarian action and the eorts taking place
on the ground, within households and communities, to keep displaced and
conict-aected children safe. As we shall explain, consideration of this
relationship is vital if the ‘localised’ approach, to which leading humanitarian
organisations have stated their commitment, is to be achieved.
1.1. THE CONTEXTS OF RESEARCH
Aside from key informant interviews with experts globally, the research for
this project was conducted in the Gaza Strip, Palestine and Jordan. In these
two locations, chronic physical, social, and economic insecurity beset the lives
of children and their families. These challenges have been compounded by
the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that 50% of the inhabitants of Gaza and the
people displaced to Jordan in the last two decades are under age 18, child
protection has huge implications. The failure to ensure the protection of so
many children has potential consequences that extend beyond individual
safety and wellbeing: social cohesion and stability are also at stake. In a
conict-aected region, this should be a cause of particular concern.
The Gaza Strip, Palestine
In Gaza, all children are eectively trapped within a narrow territory blockaded
by Israel where deepening poverty and access to clean water and electricity is
severely limited. In 2020 the unemployment rate was 49%, one of the highest in
the world.5 The population of roughly 2.1 million people may be divided in two
groups: The rst are refugees from within the 1948 borders of the State of Israel
and their descendants, who together number approximately 1.4 million. The
remaining 0.7 million people are originally from the Gaza Strip.6
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 3
1. INTRODUCTION
The distinction between ‘refugees’ and ‘Gazans’ matters in terms of sources
of support. Refugees have historically received aid and services through the
UNRelief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Major funding cuts by the United States
government, particularly during the Trump presidency, and by other western
governments including Canada, often put such support at risk. Meanwhile,
Gazans have historically relied primarily on assistance from the Palestinian
governing authorities which, for complex political and economic reasons,
have proven incapable. In Gaza, the Hamas-led government has been pro-
scribed as a terrorist organisation by many major donors including the EU,
Japan, Australia, the US, Canada, and the UK. Consequently, they have been
denied funding.
Both the refugee and local populations have been subject to periods of
intense military violence, with displacement camps experiencing the heaviest
attacks. The war of 2014 was the fourth that residents of Gaza experienced in
a decade. Since then, the population had been living on the brink of a further
major outbreak of hostilities. This came in May 2021 with the loss of 256 lives
(66 of whom were children), injury of nearly 2000 people, and destruction of
buildings and infrastructure.7
As elsewhere in Palestine, CP eorts have historically included a strong focus
on psychosocial programming, and recently there have been signicant
eorts to create a system of case management with an emphasis on training,
the development of standard operating procedures, and adherence to the
Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (2019).8 The
focus on harm caused by political violence, particularly coming from the Israeli
military and settler movement, has been intermittent and mostly concentrated
on response rather than prevention.
Jordan
In contrast to the Gaza Strip, Jordan has not experienced armed conict on
its own territory within living memory. Rather, it has been a place of sanc-
tuary consistently amongst the ten countries that host the largest number
of refugees.9 In 1948 and 1967, the country received hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians eeing across the River Jordan. Ten UNRWA-run camps for
Palestinian refugees still exist.10
As of April 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
in Jordan had registered 674,439 Syrians, close to 66,057 Iraqis, 12,874 Yemenis,
5,643 Sudanese, 658 Somalis, and approximately 1,400 other nationalities.11
Other nationalities include Eritreans and Ethiopians who arrived as migrant
workers and married registered refugees thereby gaining derivative refugee
status at UNHCR. Others await registration. The government fully acknowl-
edges only Syrian refugees and records their total number (both registered
with UNHCR and not registered) as 1.36 million.12 While some Syrians can work
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 4
1. INTRODUCTION
legally in certain sectors, the majority are caught in the same situation of
economic insecurity as members of other displaced communities. Access to
state services vary according to nationality, while resettlement programmes
for applicants deemed eligible by UNHCR lead to resettlement for less than
1%globally.13
Approximately 115,000 Syrians live in two refugee camps: Azraq and Zaatari,
which are north and northeast of Amman, respectively. The residents of these
camps are served by numerous humanitarian organisations that, between
them, address the basic needs of children, providing primary health services
and schooling. Our research project did not focus on the encamped refugees in
Jordan but rather on those who have self-settled.
Refugees who have self-settled are primarily located in urban areas, especially
Amman. With barely 25% of UNHCR’s funding appeal covered during 2021, for
example, support has been perceived as ad hoc, with access to basic services
and provision of cash and in-kind assistance contingent on a set of ‘vulnerabil-
ity criteria’ developed by UNHCR that conceptualises vulnerability primarily in
terms of poverty.
As in Gaza, CP eorts involve several humanitarian organisations: UN,
international, and local. Their focus is broadly similar with considerable eorts
over several years to develop a systems-based approach in which technical
competence and standardisation are viewed as vital elements of success.
Child marriage, child labour/begging, domestic violence, and sexual and
gender-based violence (SGBV) have typically been the focus of CP eorts.
1.2. LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY IN THE GAZA
STRIP AND JORDAN
A common experience that emerged from our enquiry was uncertainty. While
this was felt strongly amongst all communities, the causes diered between
research participants in Jordan and Gaza.
The research in Gaza revealed a fundamental sense of uncertainty due to the
profoundly fragile political context. Poverty, shortages of clean water and elec-
tricity, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement (including for health,
work, and education) combined with the constant possibility of intense aerial
bombardment upon civilians and basic infrastructure, rendered life tenuous
and uncertain. In such a situation, the protection of children could only ever
be relative: never conforming to the ideal imagined in documents such as
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)14 and the
Minimum Standards of Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.15 Furthermore,
given the blockade and restrictions on movement beyond the Gaza Strip,
planning for the future is dicult.
We do not want to live
the same night that we
lived when my brother
was attacked and lost
all his teeth. This is not
the first time, or second
time, and it will not be
the last time. We do not
know what to do. We
have almost lost hope.
— 17-year-old Somali
girl, Amman, Jordan
August 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 5
1. INTRODUCTION
For displaced people in Jordan, lack of certainty surrounds all aspects of
their lives. Several factors contribute to this situation, not least the unclear
timeframe for processing asylum applications and the granting of refugee
status. According to our interviewees, prior to 2019 it took asylum seekers, on
average, two years to have their status as refugees formalised by UNHCR. In
that year, the Jordanian government obliged UNHCR to suspend further reg-
istration of non-Syrian refugees. This obstacle remained in place at the time of
oureldwork.
The fragility of non-Syrian refugees’ legal status in Jordan creates immense
uncertainty. People live with the possibility of sudden detention or deportation
due to a range of reasons: ‘illegal work’, failure to provide proper residency
paperwork, or failure to provide mixed
nationality/mixed status marriage certicates.
For most displaced people in our research
in Jordan, resettlement in a third country
was the overriding aspiration.16 Most of our
interviewees had spent more than six years
in Jordan waiting for resettlement (average:
nine years).17 Anxiety is exacerbated by the
diculty obtaining reliable, detailed informa-
tion about the progress of one’s application.
Meanwhile, displaced people, without the nancial resources to purchase
quality, private health care, and non-Syrians who do not enjoy automatic access
to schooling, experience particular anxiety about the length of time they must
remain in a state of uncertainty.
Constant stress, and the impossibility of planning for the future was commonly
reported as a signicant trigger for depression and other mental health
conditions. Many research participants reported symptoms of depression and
anxiety experienced by themselves or family members. The mental health
impacts of uncertainty have been discussed in the wider literature on asylum
seekers.18 Living with such uncertainty and the pressures it creates inevitably
impact the capacity of caregivers to provide for and protect their children.
1.3. CHILD PROTECTION AS A
HUMANITARIAN SECTOR
CP is a long-established element of emergency programming. Its history
within western humanitarianism may be traced to the eorts of a committed
group of British activists in the aftermath of World War One. This group advo-
cated with the British government for the blockade of the defeated nations of
Germany and Austria to be lifted so that medicine and food could get through
to children at risk of disease and starvation.19 By the end of 1919, the group
Honestly, and looking at the situation we are going
through, I never feel safe, and I am always worried and
terrified that something bad might happen and hurt my
children. They never feel safe or comfortable. They are
not mentally or physically healthy.
—Palestinian Mother, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 6
1. INTRODUCTION
had established Save the Children: an organisation that pioneered eorts to
protect children from the risks of armed conict and disaster. Save the Children
has since been joined by numerous other humanitarian organisations with
a similar focus on CP including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
UNHCR, World Vision International, Plan International, the International Rescue
Committee (IRC), and Terre des Hommes.
Now, CP is a sector in itself alongside other sectors a sector in itself such as
education, health, and nutrition with which it competes for donor funding.
CP work is commonly framed in terms of rights, with reference to the UNCRC
(1989) that (a) species asylum-seeking and refugee children’s right to protec-
tion and humanitarian assistance (Article 22);20 and (b) charges States Parties
to the Convention with the responsibility for protection and humanitarian
assistance. Furthermore, States Parties should co-operate with competent
UNagencies and NGOs to full this responsibility.
Like other humanitarian sectors, CP has undergone processes of
standardisation, coordination, and professionalisation that require a particular
focus upon technical competence. The humanitarian principle of neutrality is
often invoked to justify an emphasis on the technical and a distancing from
consideration of politics and power. The argument is that any divergence from
a position of neutrality, which is rarely dened, increases the risk that host gov-
ernments might deny access to populations in need of assistance.
As part of the move towards greater technical competence, professionalisation,
and standardisation, considerable eorts have been made to create minimum
standards for CP work globally21; to disseminate ‘promising practices’; to
develop sta training initiatives; and to ensure eective communication
and collaboration amongst UN agencies, international NGOs (INGOs), and
local NGOs in humanitarian emergencies. Focus on the last of these has
increased, both within the CP sector and across sectors, in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past decade there has been considerable focus on a systems-
based approach to CP, the development of which has been supported by
leading international CP organisations. Reecting the signicant role of experts
in social work and mental health, the approach has focused on the creation of
referral pathways and case management. Bridging the divide between ‘devel-
opment programming’ and ‘humanitarian action’, the creation of systems is
a long-term response that addresses and seeks to go beyond the immediate
needs of populations experiencing displacement, conict, or disaster. Such
systems should become embedded within a nation, to be managed by state
authorities with ongoing involvement by civil society.
THE
HUMANITARIAN
PRINCIPLE OF
NEUTRALITY IS
OFTEN INVOKED
TO JUSTIFY AN
EMPHASIS ON THE
TECHNICAL AND A
DISTANCING FROM
CONSIDERATION
OF POLITICS
AND POWER.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 7
1. INTRODUCTION
The move towards a systems-based approach is intended to ensure holistic
responses to the protection of children. It represents a deliberate move away
from an issue-based approach in which agencies address priority issues
head-on and potentially in isolation. The issues commonly addressed include,
for example, the military recruitment of children, SGBV, child marriage, and
child labour.
Recently, humanitarians have sought to
ground CP activities in local contexts. This
is being pursued, for example, through the
promotion of children’s participation, and
through the development of partnerships
between UN agencies and INGOs on one
hand, and national and local organisations
on the other. The 2021–2025 strategy of
TheAlliance identies localisation as one
of four ‘strategic priorities’. This entails
‘(c)entring children, their views and protec-
tion, as well as those of their families and
communities, in the processes that generate
learning, knowledge, and evidence...’22
The research presented in this report was
focused on community-level engagement
with the aim to understand how child protection was conceptualised, the risks
that children face, and the steps taken by caregivers and children themselves
to prevent such risks from becoming harmful. Eorts to ground the research in
local context included the engagement of members of the dierent communi-
ties under study as ‘peer researchers’. Details of this initiative may be found in
the methodology section of this report.
1.4. ‘CHILD PROTECTION’ VERSUS
‘PROTECTING CHILDREN’
In conducting the research presented in this report we were attentive to the
aims and eorts of the institutionalised eld of CP. However, a distinction was
made between this professional CP work and the everyday actions of house-
holds and communities to protect displaced and conict-aected children
and ensure their wellbeing. We refer to this activity as ‘protecting children’:
itis embedded in personal and familial relationships. The distinction between
‘Child Protection’ and protecting children does not prioritise one over the
other in terms of its ecacy in preventing and addressing harm. As we shall
explain, the safety and wellbeing of children and the avoidance of neglect
requires alignment between institutional eorts (Child Protection) and those
Photo: FatCamera/iStock
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 8
1. INTRODUCTION
of caregivers in daily life (protecting children). This is a multi-faceted challenge
which is especially apparent when, as in our research, experience and perspec-
tives of caregivers and children are placed centre-stage. Table 1 suggests some
key distinctions between Child Protection and protecting children in humani-
tarian contexts. We shall discuss the content of Table 1 in the conclusion.
TABLE 1: Some key distinguishing factors of Child Protection and protecting children
Child Protection protecting children
Primary agents
of protection
Professional humanitarians, social
workers, and CBOs
Parents/caregivers,
children themselves
Object of protection Individual children Children as family, household, and
community members
Source for identifying main
protection issues
Institutional (primarily global with
eort to ‘contextualise’) Daily life (inherently local)
Framing and
justifying discourse Child rights Children’s needs
Enquiry into protecting children within daily life entails identication of the
important spaces of childhood: the neighbourhoods in which children socialise,
the schools where they go to learn, the streets through which they journey on
the way to and from school, the housing that they inhabit, the spaces beyond
their immediate surroundings in which they seek sporting and leisure opportu-
nities, the home environment, and the online world that some children engage
in through gaming and social media platforms. In each of these domains, the
risks to children and the actions of caregivers, school sta, and community
members were examined. Moreover, research activities explored the roles that
humanitarian organisations played in community eorts to protect children.
The data we acquired was immense and extraordinarily rich, reecting the wide
range of ideas and concerns of children and caregivers regarding safety and
wellbeing. In this report we convey some of the key ndings. Further publica-
tions will focus on additional themes.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 9
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
2
9
The FOCUS and
CONTEXT
of RESEARCH
“ If you are a refugee, you are a stranger. You are
suffering and you are not trusted. You don’t have
a future for your children, and you can’t provide
them with health care. The children can’t eat what
they want. They can’t live like Jordanians. They
can’t move freely. They don’t have freedom. What
else I canadd?”
—Somali mother, Amman, August 2021
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 10
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
2.1. THINKING SYSTEMICALLY
The research was underpinned by the conceptualisation of organisations
pursuing child protection as part of a humanitarian system. This system
includes all actors that, by design or default, have a signicant role to play in
determining the nature and focus of protection eorts. Caregivers and chil-
dren seeking to address risks within daily life are part of this system along with
thefollowing actors:
The host government
In Jordan, the government has handed responsibility to UNHCR for the
registration, resettlement, and basic assistance to refugees. At the same time, it
is playing an increasingly directive role in determining the nature and focus of
humanitarian programming, introducing policies that dictate which communi-
ties should receive aid, seeking to ensure that a considerable proportion goes
to Jordanian citizens.
In Gaza, the government has been run by Hamas since 2006. The role of
government in the everyday lives of the roughly 1.3 million Palestinians
who have refugee status is often minimal. Established in 1949, UNRWA23 has
provided schooling and primary healthcare to refugee children. The proscrip-
tion of Hamas as a terrorist organisation by many western governments has
ensured the continued centrality of UNRWA to their daily lives, notwithstanding
ongoing heavy uctuations in donor support.
Public sector employees
Public sector employees play a signicant role in the lives of refugee children in
Jordan. This includes sta at government schools employed as teachers, school
principals, and counsellors. The police and wider justice system were also
mentioned repeatedly by caregivers and children, particularly in the Jordanian
eldwork. Medical professionals, including mental health experts, may also
play a role in ensuring children’s protection and wellbeing.
As already noted, in the Gaza Strip UNRWA plays the role of a quasi-state in
relation to Palestinian refugee children. It is the main healthcare provider,
including for vaccinations, post-natal care, and maternal care through a
network of 22 primary clinics that operate in the eight refugee camps across
the Gaza Strip. Moreover, it is the main primary education provider through
its 278 schools (up to ninth grade). UNRWA also plays a substantial role in
providing cash and food support, especially to refugees who meet certain
vulnerability criteria (for example, lack of work and income, family size, and lack
of shelter).24
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 11
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
Bilateral and multilateral donors
Gaza and Jordan are both locations of intense geopolitical interest for western
donor governments concerned with the Middle East. Humanitarian funding
is inextricably tied to political considerations, as witnessed in the embargo on
direct funding of Hamas in Gaza. Additionally, the safety of children exposed to
conict and the consequences of displacement are profoundly sensitive issues
in this regional context. The approach to addressing the protection of children
that bilateral and multilateral donors seek to pursue should be analysed in
direct relation to political agendas.
Local community-based organisations
Aside from humanitarian organisations mandated for CP work (UN agencies,
INGOs, and national NGOs), there are also many small, grassroots initiatives
that may play a role in protecting children, sometimes directly and sometimes
through support to caregivers that enhances their capacity to ensure the safety
of children. Their contribution is unlikely to be labelled as a CP intervention
but may, nonetheless, be highly valued. Their insights, gained from years of
engagement at the community level, are a rich resource of knowledge of the
risks faced by displaced children and the measures needed to ensure those
risks are eectively addressed. They may play a supplementary or supportive
role in relation to educational access (for example, by providing schoolbooks
or tutoring). Some oer health consultations and give free medicines for
basicconditions.
Neighbourhood figures
Within everyday life displaced children encounter a range of individuals in
their neighbourhood who might play an ad hoc and occasional role in keeping
them safe. This includes religious leaders, shopkeepers, and neighbours, all of
whom might provide material support or play a role in addressing a particular
situation of risk. In some cases, they might also oer safe spaces.
Context-specific actors
In certain locations there may be specic actors that have a signicant role to
play in the humanitarian system. Within our research, the obvious example is
the government of Israel. Although the Jewish settler population was removed
by the Israeli government in 2005, the Gaza Strip is far from self-governing.
In many respects it is still under Israeli occupation. This is manifest in Israeli
control over the economy, movement of people and goods in and out, and
activities of humanitarian and human rights organisations in the Palestinian
Territories. Thus, the Israeli government is unique in its enduring impact on
the survival of an entire population of children not residing within its own
internationally recognised borders.
WITHIN
EVERYDAY LIFE
DISPLACED
CHILDREN
ENCOUNTER
A RANGE OF
INDIVIDUALS
IN THEIR
NEIGHBOURHOOD
WHO MIGHT PLAY
AN AD HOC AND
OCCASIONAL ROLE
IN KEEPING
THEM SAFE.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 12
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
The actors noted in Figure 1 are presented in our research as elements of a
system which, when adequately resourced, suciently aligned with each other,
and focused, above all else, on the protection of children, should serve to
identify and respond to the risks faced by children. Each could potentially play
a role within any given context but not all will do so. And while each element
may connect, somehow, to all others, certain connections are more impactful
to the protection of children in dierent contexts. For example, in Jordan we
witnessed the importance of analysing the assistance oered by humanitarian
organisations in relation to the policies of the host government. This was much
less the case in Gaza where the Hamas-led government does not connect for-
mally to the eorts of international and UN humanitarian organisations given
the political divide between the governments in the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank, and the preference of western governments to recognise and deal with
the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
FIGURE 1
ELEMENTS OF THE HUMANITARIAN SYSTEM
Bilateral and
multilateral donors
Children and
caregivers
Context-
specific actors
Host government
Local
organisations
Humanitarian
organisations
Kin
Neighbours and
social networks Public sector
employees
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 13
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
Figure 1 might serve as the starting point to analyse the functioning of the
humanitarian system within a given context. Elements in this gure and the
connection between them that are especially impactful on the protection
outcomes of a system can be identied and depicted visually. Such depiction,
in turn, enables us to think more deeply about the distribution of power within
the humanitarian system in a specic setting. Which elements and connections
have the power to determine the nature and extent of support that caregivers
and children receive?
Taking the example of the Gaza Strip, we might visualise the functioning of the
humanitarian system as in Figure 2. Here the power of the Israeli government
and the relationship between that government and major donors – western
governments and bodies such as the European Union – have an immense
bearing on humanitarian organisations and the safety of Palestinian children
residing within the blockaded Strip. In this case, we can see that neglect of
children’s survival, good health, and security is the product of a system in
which certain political agendas and ideologies take precedence over child
protectionconsiderations.
FIGURE 2
DIAGNOSTIC DEPICTION OF IMPACTFUL CONNECTIONS IN THE HUMANITARIAN SYSTEM IN GAZA
Humanitarian
organisations
Children and
caregivers
Bilateral and
multilateral donors
Context-
specific actors
(Government
of Israel)
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 14
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
Our vantage point from which to explore the workings of the system and
its consequences in terms of protection from/exposure to risk was the per-
spectives and experiences of the intended beneciaries: children and their
caregivers. Through research that engaged with dierent nationalities – Somali,
Syrian, Sudanese, Iraqi, and Palestinian – in Jordan and Palestine we sought
to understand if and how the system, in our terms, functioned dierentially:
producing outcomes that varied for children depending on their nationality
and location.
2.2. NEGLECT AS THE PRODUCT OF A SYSTEM
According to the widely accepted denition of ‘child protection in emergen-
ci e s ’, 25 protection eorts should be focused on responses to and the prevention
of violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect. While eorts in respect of the rst
three have been extensively discussed and pursued, attention to neglect has
been scant, until recently. This is not surprising. Violence, abuse, and exploita-
tion are all forms of harm to children that may be observed either as they occur
or through their immediate impact. By contrast, neglect is marked by absence
or lack. It may give rise to violence, abuse, and exploitation but the timeframe
through which this occurs can be long term and the chain of causation dicult
to identify.
A 2018 review of literature on child neglect commissioned by The Alliance
stimulated overdue debate on the subject. The study’s authors note plentiful
anecdotal evidence that ‘neglect is one of the most prevalent forms of child
maltreatment in contexts of crises and conict’.26 Their study is focused on
caregivers, but they also draw attention to the role of institutions and highlight
neglect that may be associated with the failure to provide essential services
such as education, housing, and nutrition. Their core denition of ‘child
neglect’ is:
…the intentional or unintentional failure of a caregiver – any person, community, or institution
(including the State) with clear responsibility for the wellbeing of the child – to protect a child
from actual or potential harm or to fulfil that child’s rights to wellbeing when:
a. Caregivers have the required abilities, financial capacities, and knowledge, and choose not to
protect or provide for the child (intentional);
b. Caregivers lack the required abilities, financial capacities and knowledge, and intentionally
choose not to seek assistance in protecting or providing for the child (intentional); or
c. Caregivers lack the required abilities, financial capacities, and knowledge and other duty
bearers choose not to provide the necessary services and assistance (unintentional).27
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 15
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
In our research, we did not encounter caregivers who had the resources to
protect children but who chose not to do so (scenario ‘a’ in the list above).
Instead, we encountered caregivers struggling with immense and diverse
obstacles in the eort to protect children. Nor did we come across situations
described in ‘b’: caregivers who lacked the resources but who chose not to seek
support. The reality we consistently found
was that of caregivers unable to access the
assistance needed to compensate for their
own insucient resources. Scenarios ‘a’ and
‘b’ suggest neglect on the part of caregiv-
ers. Our research consistently revealed
situations that related to scenario ‘c’.
According to research participants, the
basic support needed to empower caregiv-
ers was often elusive: hard to learn about,
complicated to access, or simply unavail-
able. Furthermore, the support provided
might be unequal to the challenges of
protection. An obvious example is children
in the Gaza Strip. This is a population living
under blockade, exposed with regularity to
extreme military violence that is impossible
to escape. UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations are incapable of
preventing the consequent harm to children or supporting caregivers to do so.
Such a tragic situation needs to be understood as a product of the humanitar-
ian system as it operates in that specic location, paying particular attention to
the interactions between bilateral and multilateral government donors and the
Israeli government, to the impact of this relationship on the work of humanitar-
ian organisations and the resulting neglect of children (see Figure 2).
The scenario depicted in ‘c’ above emphasises the role of organisations with a
CP mandate. The question that arises from our research with respect to these
organisations is: how do the interactions between dierent actors within
the humanitarian system result in the safety and wellbeing of children, or
their neglect?
Our research draws attention to two aspects of neglect produced by the
humanitarian system: direct and indirect. ‘Direct neglect’ would be a descriptor
for a situation in which the most powerful elements in the humanitarian system
(typically donors, host governments, and humanitarian organisations) ignore
the child protection-related needs of certain populations, such as particular
ethnic, national, or religious minorities. Direct neglect might also be a label for
cases where the specic protection concerns faced by children and caregivers
are ignored in favour of a pre-determined set of CP issues. Additionally, direct
Photo: rrodrickbeiler/iStock
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 16
2. THE FOCUS AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
neglect may relate to the ways in which issues are addressed, for example,
when child labour is addressed as a primarily cultural or parenting issue, requir-
ing awareness raising with caregivers and ignoring the political and economic
conditions of refugee families that drive children into the workplace to support
a household on the brink of destitution.
We suggest the term ‘indirect neglect’ for situations in which caregivers are
unable to meet the basic needs of children despite their best eorts. Rather
than focus solely on the caregiving, our research indicates the need to con-
sider if and how the humanitarian system supports caregivers and children to
ensure children’s wellbeing and protection. Is this support correctly focused
and does it complement the actions of caregivers? Is it adequate in relation to
caregivers’ minimum needs for support? The 2018 Alliance study, mentioned
above, identies seven distinct categories of child neglect that typically arise
in humanitarian settings. By default, indirect neglect may play a role in relation
to these categories, underwritten by direct neglect, which entails lack of focus
on (a) populations of displaced children routinely experiencing threats to their
safety and wellbeing; and (b) the issues of concern to children and caregivers.
The categories in the 2018 Alliance study28 are:
• Physical neglect: failure to protect a child from harm or to full a child’s
rights to the necessities for survival including adequate food, shelter,
clothing, and basic medical care.
• Medical neglect: failure to seek timely and appropriate medical care for a
serious physical or mental health condition.
• Emotional neglect: failure to provide a child with regular emotional
attention, nurture, and opportunities for developmental enrichment; or
exposing a child to intimate partner violence, drug, or alcohol abuse.
• Educational neglect: failure to secure a child’s education through
attendance at school or otherwise.
• Supervisory neglect: failure to provide a safe environment with
appropriate adult supervision, thereby placing the child at risk of harm.
• Abandonment: failure of a caregiver to maintain contact with a child or to
provide reasonable support for a specied time.
• Discriminatory neglect: failure of a caregiver to care for a certain subset
of their children due to individual characteristics. The characteristics that
most often lead to discrimination relate to a child’s gender identity or
disability. Discriminatory neglect may take any of the forms above.
In the discussion of ndings (Section 7) we focus on neglect that is physical,
medical, educational, and supervisory.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 17
3. METHODOLOGY
3
17
METHODOLOGY
“ The most important point was
thinking of the community while
trying to structure the questions.
We did it with passion. This is
our community; we are in the
same boat. We put the questions
carefully, so everyone feels
comfortable. This was the most
important moment for me, the
brainstorming sessions.”
—Sudanese peer researcher,
January 2022
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 18
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. PREPARING THE RESEARCH
This research project entailed collaboration between academics, researchers,
experts, and practitioners in the eld of child protection in humanitarian set-
tings. This collaboration started with extended consultations with prospective
partners in Jordan and the Gaza Strip. Those who joined the project collabo-
rated on the distinct phases including development, design, implementation,
data collection, analysis, dissemination, and knowledge exchange. Design and
methodology were also the product of dialogue with partners.
We prioritised working closely with communities of refugees in Jordan and
the Gaza Strip. In part, we strove to achieve this goal through engaging peer
researchers in the design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination phases.
Peer researchers were selected based on the following criteria:
1. Interest in developing skills in research and commitment to working with
refugee communities.
2. Membership in one of the refugee communities that were the focus this
research (Somali, Sudanese, Syrian, and Iraqi communities in Jordan and
Palestinian refugees in Gaza).
3. Lack of strong attachment or link to international organisations in a way
that might inuence the research methodology and questions.
The research team worked with three cohorts of peer researchers recruited
and hosted by Sawiyan, CRP, and Tamer Institute. Each group received training
separately. The groups recruited by CRP and Tamer Institute received train-
ing tailored to their needs as identied through dialogue between the ‘Bath
team’ (Alruzzi, Hart, Procter) and the management team of both organisations.
The peer researchers recruited by Sawiyan had relevant experience in social
research thus it was advantageous to engage with them directly to identify
skills to prioritize in their training. Broadly speaking; however, there was signi-
cant overlap between the groups regarding training topics.
3.2. PROJECT PARTNERS
Sawiyan for Community Development
Sawiyan was established in Jordan in 2016 evolving from a volunteer
organisation to a non-prot NGO focused on marginalised groups of displaced
people as well as impoverished Jordanians. They have been particularly active
in supporting African refugees in Jordan, notably Sudanese and Somalis, as
well as Yemenis. Eight members of the Sudanese and Somali communities who
are active with the organisation participated as peer researchers on the project.
WE PRIORITISED
WORKING
CLOSELY WITH
COMMUNITIES
OF REFUGEES IN
JORDAN AND THE
GA Z A ST R I P.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 19
3. METHODOLOGY
Collateral Repair Project
Since 2006, CRP has been supporting displaced people in Jordan through
their community centre. Initially the focus was on Iraqis, followed by Syrians
and impoverished Jordanians and Palestinians in the surrounding neighbour-
hoods. Recently they have expanded their outreach to Sudanese, Somalis,
and Yemenis through the opening of a second community centre. CRP
recruited 14 peer researchers from the Iraqi and Syrian communities, including
eight children.
German-Jordanian University
In 2018, the German-Jordanian University created a master’s level programme:
Social Work / Migration and Refugees, a unique course of study in the
Jordanian context. Dr Rawan Ibrahim, a core sta member delivering this
programme, was involved in the training and mentoring of peer researchers,
follow-up research, and dissemination of ndings. As part of the project’s
capacity-building dimension, Hart and Alruzzi presented initial ndings to
students in the master’s programme.
Seenaryo
Founded in Lebanon in 2015, Seenaryo specialises
in participatory theatre and play-based learning.
The organisation has been working in Jordan
since 2018, focusing particularly on marginalised
communities. For this project, Seenaryo con-
ducted a 12-week theatre-workshop initiative
with two groups of children aged 12 to 18 years
from the Sudanese and Somali communities. This
process culminated in a public performance of
two original theatre pieces, written and per-
formed by the participants and facilitated by
professional theatre makers. Through this activity
themes of safety, wellbeing, and protection were
explored. Seenaryo produced videos of the two
plays and a third video about the project.
Tamer Institute for Community Education
In Gaza we worked with the Tamer Institute for Community Education, which
is a Palestinian NGO that has been working with children since 1989. Alruzzi
and Procter had collaborated with Tamer Institute previously. The Institute’s
team recruited 16 peer researchers and a trainer/mentor. They also facilitated
research activities, including writing and visual arts workshops with children to
explore safety and wellbeing themes.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 20
3. METHODOLOGY
Proteknôn Foundation for Innovation and Learning
Proteknôn is an international consulting group of over 40 senior academics
and practitioners focused on advancing the care, protection, and wellbeing of
children facing adversity. Proteknôn contributed one of the lead researchers,
Caitlin Procter, and was involved in various stages of the project, from concept
development to training and the development of outputs.
3.3. TRAINING
Most of the training activities were organized in person and were facilitated
by local trainers working in Arabic using material prepared by the core team
in Arabic and English. In total, 38 peer researchers across the three organisa-
tions received training and mentoring to undertake qualitative research with
members of their own communities (20 females and 18 males, including ve
children between 16 to 18 years old). The groups received a training package
on dierent topics including conducting social research with children and
caregivers, designing research questions, ethics, safeguarding, and conducting
eldwork. Throughout the training, the researchers were involved in a series of
discussions on the meaning of protection as perceived by their communities.
In the latter stages of training, participants developed data collection tools and
selection criteria in collaboration with trainers. Identication of core research
questions entailed extensive dialogue in which concerns identied by peer
researchers (and the most appropriate way to frame enquiry into those con-
cerns) were balanced against the needs of the Bath team to ensure an adequate
degree of commonality across dierent communities.
Photo: Anas-Mohammed/Shutterstock
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 21
3. METHODOLOGY
TABLE 2: Training schedule
Day Topi c s Objectives
Day 1 Diverse childhoods and
universal discourses
on childhood
• Provide overview of the training.
• Build understanding of expectations.
• Introduce the (provisional) scope and objectives of the project.
• Build a shared language of childhood in line with local
understanding.
• Develop understanding of rights-based denitions.
Day 2 Social research, doing
research with children,
and ethics of doing social
research with children
• Enable clarity about why we do social research with and
about children.
• Promote understanding of diverse ways of interviewing:
their advantages and disadvantages, and what we can learn
through the interview process.
• Nurture appreciation for what is particular about doing
research with children.
• Begin to develop awareness of ethics in research with and
about children.
Day 3 Ethics,29 safety and
safeguarding in doing
research with children
• Build further awareness of ethics and safety of data collection
before, during, and after interviews.
• Co-construct an ethics and safety code of conduct for the full
research team.
• Develop protocol on referral pathways in case of emergencies
(for example, disclosure of sensitive or concerning information,
COVID-19 escalation, and questions from security/authorities).
Day 4 Research methodology,
tools (interview guide)
• Build collective understanding of the issues of concern to the
refugee communities.
• Develop research questions and methods.
Day 5 Participatory workshops
with children
• Create familiarity with participatory methods of working
with children.
• Develop awareness of the advantages and potential chal-
lenges of organizing participatory workshops.
Day 6 Practice undertaking
interviews with caregivers
and children
• Reach a shared understanding of how to facilitate discussions
of protection issues in a conversational way.
Day 7 Practical scenarios and
managing challenges
in the eld
• Ensure clarity about protocols related to obtaining informed
consent, putting ethical standards into practice, safeguarding,
referral, COVID-19, and data management.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 22
3. METHODOLOGY
Training activities were quickly followed by eldwork, organised in parallel by
the four partners. Fieldwork included semi-structured interviews and partic-
ipatory workshops with caregivers and children (12–18 years old) in the ve
communities. Partner organizations facilitated the selection and recruitment of
research participants with help from peer researchers. Peer researchers inter-
viewed 100 research participants (70 from Jordan and 30 from Gaza, see Table3
for details). Additionally, the project engaged 30 children (12–18 years old)
through theatre-based workshops and focus group discussions, and
35children through participatory workshops in Jordan, and approximately
60children (11–18 years old) through creative writing and arts in Gaza. The aim
of such activities was to create an opportunity for children to share their views
and experiences in a group setting through creative methods. As the theatre
project in Amman illustrated, the activity also served to build community
and demonstrate the value of that community to children. Peer researchers
observed theatre project activities and summarised conversations and ideas
explored through improvisation. For example, in one of the sessions a group
of children enacted the experience of racist bullying in the street and invented
a magical tailor who could alter the stature of short children, thereby helping
them to deal with bullies.
The interviewees were selected according to an agreed sample size for
each community.30 Table 3 shows the geographical, gender, age, and
communitydistribution.
TABLE 3: Participant distribution
Location Community Gender Children/ caregivers
Amman (and
Sahab), Jordan
Sudanese community –
Sahab (10) 7 female, 3 male 3 children, 7 caregivers
Sudanese community –
Amman (15) 9 female, 6 male 5 children, 10 caregivers
Somali community –
Amman (15) 8 female, 7 male 5 children, 10 caregivers
Syrian Community –
Amman (15) 13 female, 2 male 6 children, 9 caregivers
Iraqi Community –
Amman (15) 11 female, 4 male 4 children, 11 caregivers
The Gaza
Strip, Palestine
Palestinian refu-
gees—Gaza (30) 14 female, 16 male 10 children, 20 caregivers
Tot a l 62 female, 38 male 33 children, 67 caregivers
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 23
3. METHODOLOGY
At various stages, either the facilitators or members of the Bath team met
the peer researchers for debrieng, feedback, and one-to-one mentoring. To
varying extents the peer researchers participated in related activities including
transcription, translation of collected data, and initial analysis. In November
2021, the Bath team conducted data analysis workshops in Jordan with peer
researchers and, in the case of CRP, they trained and supported four peer
researchers to conduct four focus group discussions with members of the
Syrian and Iraqi refugee communities.
3.4. COVID19 IMPACT
The coronavirus pandemic began a few months before the proposed research
start date and impacted project activities signicantly throughout. But it also
prompted team members to develop exibility and creativity in all elements
of the research process. The Bath team adopted a cautious approach guided
by the principle of ‘do no harm’. This necessitated continual monitoring of
the COVID-19 situation in Jordan and Gaza. At times activities that could not
be conducted online had to be postponed until conditions on the ground
improved. The rollout of vaccines, accessibility to testing, and lifting of travel
restrictions made in-person activities possible from June to November 2021.
In addition to delays due to the pandemic, in Gaza the intense hostilities in May
2021 required further activity postponement to allow for the situation to calm
and for people to regroup.
Protocols for managing the pandemic and minimising infection risks were
developed with each partner. Fortunately, no cases of infection that might be
attributed to research activities were reported. However, development and
implementation of protocols created dilemmas for participants. For the Bath
team, the responsibility for the health and safety of participants was a fun-
damental consideration. However, the team was mindful of not introducing
a colonial dynamic by insisting that certain measures be followed. For some
of the peer researchers, measures were initially felt to be an unwelcome and
intrusive imposition. Through steady dialogue, sometimes involving mediation
from project partner sta, the protocol was agreed. The protocol included
regular testing, maintenance of sanitisation procedures, additional cleaning of
oces used for interviews, and wearing masks in training sessions. In a review
meeting with peer researchers and management of one of the project partners,
a researcher shared the following observation:
We were doing tests on a weekly basis. No one was happy when the team from the lab
called to schedule an appointment with the test, but this was taking max responsibility
to keep the participants safe.
— Peer researcher, Sawiyan team
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 24
3. METHODOLOGY
3.5. DATA ANALYSIS
In addition to workshop analysis with peer researchers, we used MAXQDA to
code translated transcripts, identifying themes and sub-themes shared across
communities as well as those specic to each. More detailed analysis was then
implemented for the following themes:
• harms that refugee children in Jordan and Gaza need to be
protected from,
• eorts to protect children from identied risks and strategies to
provide care, and
• role of humanitarian actors in relation to the protection of children.
Photo: Ismail Rajo/Shutterstock
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 25
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
4
25
Protection concerns
SUMMARY
of FINDINGS:
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
“ Half of our childhood was destroyed,
frankly. Half of the children of Gaza
are accustomed to such bombs.
These sounds became normal for
them, and they feel that the bombing
has become a part of their lives.”
—11-year-old girl, the Gaza Strip, Palestine,
October 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 26
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
In this section we share FINDINGS from research conducted
with caregivers and children from the ve displaced communities:
Syrian, Somali, Sudanese, Iraqi (Jordan), and Palestinian refugees in
the Gaza Strip. We cannot provide a comprehensive account given the
volume of data produced. We instead focus on three protection issues
that strongly emerged across all communities: education, health, and
direct verbal and physical violence.
In addition, we share insights concerning (a) the ways that caregivers and
children understood the protection of children, (b) the ways in which they
sought to address protection challenges, and (c) their experience of agencies
working to support and protect them. In the analysis section, we will consider
these ndings in relation to child neglect, employing four of the categories
suggested in the 2018 Alliance study: physical neglect, medical neglect,
educational neglect, and supervisory neglect.
4.1. CONCEPTUALISING PROTECTION
Fundamental to our research was identication of the ways that participants
across the ve communities thought about the protection of children. To
that end, we adapted our approach to t with specic conditions in Gaza and
Jordan, respectively. In Gaza, we asked explicitly about the interviewees’ ideas
regarding child protection. In Jordan, through dialogue with peer research-
ers, we agreed on an implicit approach that combined discussion of risks and
potential harms with enquiry framed around care and wellbeing. Dierences in
perception across the two locations were not signicant: both approaches led
us to a similar discussion across the 100 individuals interviewed, within focus
group discussions, and other research activities.
For most refugees we engaged with in Jordan, protection entailed securing
the means to address children’s basic needs. At the most immediate level these
included food, schooling, health, and bodily safety. Beyond that, many research
participants talked about securing a future for their children that ensured
stability and a reasonable standard of living.
Most of the participants reported that they were incapable of fully protecting
their children regarding their identied needs. Many linked their inability to
protect children to lack of access to the formal labour market, which kept
them in extreme poverty. Some noted the impact of discrimination, leading
to inaccessibility of public services such as health and education, including
tertiary education and training opportunities. The many years spent in Jordan
were not perceived to have any positive bearing on refugees’ access to public
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 27
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
services in comparison to Jordanian citizens. Non-Syrian refugees noted better
access aorded to Syrian refugees than themselves. However, Syrian refugees
reported incidents of discrimination that aected their access to services due
to their refugee status.
In Jordan, personal networks and the ability to call upon mediators (‘wasta’)
from within one’s network commonly play a vital role in gaining access to
services and economic opportunities. The lack of connections is often a
dening feature of displacement where familiar networks of mutual support
are reduced or lost entirely. This has important consequences for the eorts of
caregivers to secure the means to protect children and ensure their wellbeing.
In Gaza, protection is perceived somewhat dierently, which reects specic
political, economic, and social conditions. Like research participants in Jordan,
there was a widely held conviction that the protection of children is a parental
responsibility, and that the family is the rst line of protection against threats to
survival and wellbeing. However, ideas and concerns about safety, protection,
and wellbeing in the Gazan context were strongly associated with the ongoing
blockade and recurrent warfare. Within everyday life, conditions created by
blockade and war impact children’s lives in a myriad of ways: from rendering
the physical environment unsafe due to destruction, to social and economic
conditions that undermine the capacity of caregivers to support and protect
children eectively.
4.2. VIOLENCE
Children’s exposure to interpersonal violence was a key concern discussed
across the refugee groups. Violence can take several forms including bullying,
discrimination, exclusion, and direct physical violence. In Jordan, research
participants related violence to xenophobic prejudice amongst host commu-
nities against minority refugee groups. In addition to anti-refugee prejudice
and abuse, Somali and Sudanese children are
subject to anti-Black racism.
Interpersonal violence in Jordan manifests
in several forms, increasing in frequency
and severity as children grow through their
teenage years. While boys were more likely to
experience physical violence, girls reported
verbal abuse and attempts to humiliate
them through actions such as pulling o
theirheadscarves.
My son’s two teeth are half broken by some random
kids who threw an object at him. He doesn’t know them
except one...His back was torn with the metal cover of
the tuna can. He has many scars on his back, but he
sees none of them. He only sees his half-broken teeth.
And the other son can’t forget about his eye.
— Somali mother, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 28
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
Violent attacks could occur in various locations inhabited by children in daily
life: schools, public play spaces, the street, and school buses. Agents of violence
are commonly children around the same age, including classmates in schools
with mixed refugee and non-refugee students. However, the research also
produced accounts of incidents of violence and abuse perpetrated by teachers
and school administrators.
Some forms of violence are normalized as part of childhood experience.
However, caregivers and children interviewed shared numerous incidents that
went far beyond the kind of bullying and ghting seen as typical, particularly
amongst teenage boys. The experience of interpersonal violence amongst
Sudanese and Somali children was more frequent and more intense. In some
cases, boys had to be hospitalised due to injuries sustained.
The following quotes are typical of interpersonal violence and abuse described
byinterviewees:
Even when he was working, he kept his average gradehigh. However,
some boys in the neighbourhood still shout at him ‘you Syrian, you
beggar’ because he used to work.
— 14-year-old Syrian girl talking about her brother, Amman, August 2021
There is a group of Jordanians boys like a gang; they target Somali kids,
catch them, and treat them like slaves. It’s not only me; you can also ask
[name of mutual acquaintance] about this story. They catch Somali boys
and then tell them to stand in the roads, and they hide in the corner and
tell them to beg, and the one who refuses got beaten.
— Somali father, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
Sometimes girls harass me. They don’t become friends with me, they
don’t talk with me. That’s why at school I always stay by myself. For
example, they harass me, and they think that every Black person is not
good at school: he has problems with smartness or with his mind. Even
when I was in second grade, girls were afraid to touch me that their
colour not become the same as my colour.
— 15-year-old Sudanese girl, Sahab, Jordan August 2021
VIOLENCE CAN
TAKE SEVERAL
FORMS INCLUDING
BU LLYING,
DISCRIMINATION,
EXCLUSION,
AND DIRECT
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 29
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
In the Gaza Strip the majority of residents are refugees: people who ed during
the 1948 War and their descendants. Here, experiences of interpersonal vio-
lence were not attributed to xenophobic prejudice. Rather they were perceived,
in part, as a product of the harsh living conditions, the immense stress caused
by the economic blockade, and constant threat of extreme military aggression.
Research participants in Gaza discussed domestic violence more frequently
than did members of the dierent communities in Jordan.
Caregivers can only hope to have a limited eect in protecting children from
violence given the ongoing situation of warfare and blockade. Fear is not
limited to the outbreak of fresh hostilities, but the risks children may encounter
in an environment of destroyed buildings and damagedinfrastructure.
Research participants described their strategies to reduce the fear experienced
by children during military attacks, but with the knowledge that they cannot
address the cause of such fear. Some described their eorts to alleviate anxiety
by, for example, keeping children close and playing games to distract them.
Such eorts have not prevented long-term psychological harm, as explained by
several caregivers.
My husband gets frustrated from the current situation and his unemployment and
direct his anger at me and the kids, especially the girls. He beats and hurts them
for the least reason, and we always argue about the way he raises our kids.
— Palestinian mother, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
In our area there is a cliff that resulted from the erosion of the seashore. In order to
solve the problem, the municipality brought the remains of destroyed houses that
contain many iron rods. My house is only a short distance from the beach, which
means that if I neglected my child a little, for example while I was preparing food
he would have reached the beach near the iron bars. If he was accompanied by his
cousin or the son of his neighbour or any violent boy and he pushed my son on the
iron bars, his life would end completely.
—Palestinian mother, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
The last aggression and the aggressions that took place before, have mostly
affected the mental health of children…I have a 12-year-old son that suffers from
involuntary peeing and his 10-year-old brother suffers from the same problem as
a result of constant fear. The biggest problem, I figured out after the war, is that
my son…also has the problematic habit of biting his nails and fingers. He harshly
hurts them, and I realized it eight months ago when I saw his hands full with
bleeding wounds.
— Palestinian mother, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 30
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
4.3. EDUCATION
While discussing protection, participants consistently highlighted access to
education. They expressed that schooling was vital for the wellbeing of chil-
dren not only in the immediate term but in relation to their future, adult lives.
Many caregivers identied the possibility of a better, safer, and more stable
life for their children as a motivating factor to leave their country of normal
residence and come to Jordan in the hope of resettlement. Therefore, lack of
access to adequate schooling caused great anxiety, undermining their eort to
protect children’s futures.
In Gaza, as in the other elds where UNRWA operates,31 access to primary
health care and schooling, until at least ninth grade, is assured. In Jordan access
is more tenuous, contingent on a range of interacting elements of the system.
For some caregivers it depends on their ability to provide documentation
to the prospective school that indicates registration with UNHCR and thus
status as a refugee or asylum-seeker. It also entails expenditure. Some noted
the requirement to pay approximately 40 JD per year to ‘reserve a seat’ at the
school. In addition, caregivers of non-Syrian refugee children must pay for
books and uniforms. Many families lacked nances to cover these costs and
sought assistance from various organisations. The process was complicated
and might result in a one-o payment that was enough to ensure access for
one academic year but with no guarantee after that. One Iraqi father in Amman
explained his struggle to ensure access for his children:
When we first came to Jordan, they asked us for our residency, but we
didn’t have it. So, my children lost a year … they didn’t go to school
even though we came before the school year by two months, but they
weren’t accepted… it was very difficult suffering until they went back
to school.
A Somali mother in Amman described the problems surrounding the provision
of textbooks:
This year until now our children are not given books and the monthly
exam is going on. How can you examine two students: one with a book
and the other never got the textbook of the course? It cannot be a fair
exam. It will affect the child’s education and mental wellbeing. The
mothers want their children to be like the other children, to have what
the others have but they are not able financially.
There are many
difficulties in getting
them registered in
schools, you have to
have many connec-
tions in order to get
themaccepted.
— Iraqi mother, Amman,
Jordan, August 2021
If your children cannot
get education and you
left your home country
for war and seek refuge
in this country and still
you can’t get education
and development for
your children, this is a
big problem for their
future. I don’t think
there is a problem
bigger than that.
— Somali mother,
Amman, Jordan,
August 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 31
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
Initial access to school poses one set of challenges. Remaining at school may
entail tackling further obstacles. In some cases, dropout occurs due to caregiv-
ers’ inability to pay for ongoing costs of transportation, uniforms, lunch, and,
as mentioned, new books.
Interpersonal violence may also aect attendance. Several research
participants described regular incidents of physical violence, verbal abuse, and
bullying causing children to drop out or their caregivers to remove them from
school for their own safety:
I stopped my two children from going to school: the old one who was about to go
to eighth grade, and the younger one I stopped him when he too reached eighth
grade. Problems are not ending.
—Somali father, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
A further reason for dropout, noted particularly by Palestinian research partic-
ipants in Gaza and Syrians in Amman, was the dire economic situation within
households causing children (usually male) to drop out in order to work, often
under exploitative conditions. Such a scenario seemed to occur in families
where the father had a serious illness and was unable to work. In Gaza, the link
between the wider political-economic situation (Israeli blockade), the high rate
of unemployment, and dropout from school is evident:
[My son] left school and went to work as a result of the situation we found
ourselves in after his father became unemployed. He sometimes works with his
uncle as a construction worker or with our neighbours in [day] labour.
—Palestinian mother, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
4.4. HEALTHCARE
Refugees’ access to medical services in Jordan is often hindered by
bureaucracy and lack of nancial resources. The complex system operates
with shifting policies concerning access to health care for dierent refugee
populations. At the time of our research, all those registered with UNHCR (and,
in the case of Syrians, who also had an ID card) could access healthcare. The
cost was the same as that paid by Jordanians who did not have private health
insurance. For anything beyond routine healthcare, it was necessary to get
approval from UNHCR, which was required prior to visiting a designated health
facility for free or subsidised treatment. Those who arrived in Jordan after the
government obliged UNHCR to suspend registration in 2019 had no entitle-
ment to healthcare at a reduced cost through the public health system.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 32
4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: PROTECTION CONCERNS
Numerous research participants commented that the number of health
facilities had declined in recent years, particularly since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, it was often necessary to travel considera-
ble distances at great expense (public transport is minimal and taxis are often
the only viable option).
The Caritas clinic that helps us is in Hashemi. Imagine from Sahab. If
we wanted to come, we would need 10 JD.32
—Sudanese mother, Sahab, Jordan, August 2021
For those who obtain the necessary permissions and can cover the incidental
costs, treatment is principally provided at Al-Basheer Hospital in South Amman.
This hospital has a poor reputation. Interviewees described long waiting times
to see a doctor, exacerbated by Jordanians often jumping the queue thanks to
connections with sta.
Given the obstacles, several refugees sought more immediate alternatives.
Participants from the Sudanese and Somali communities spoke of assistance
oered two days per week at a local church. However, this was only for basic
medicines. Some caregivers perceived the purchase of further medicines from
a pharmacy as cheaper and easier than seeking treatment through the public
health system. However, for some conditions, medications from the pharmacy
were a means to manage, rather than overcome, the health issue.
Inevitably, challenges in accessing adequate healthcare can have a
knock-on eect in terms of education and the opportunity to enjoy leisure
activities with peers. Due to a lack of specialised services, children with phys-
ical conditions that might be treated through specialised therapy or surgery
must instead live with a disabling condition. This can be a severe disadvantage
within and beyond the classroom. Moreover, they may be subject to additional
bullying and verbal abuse due to a visible condition that marks them out
asdierent.
Access to primary healthcare, reported by research participants in Gaza, was
dierent from that in Jordan. The healthcare system has suered immensely
due to war and blockade.33 Facilities have been damaged, and the import of
equipment and medications is controlled by Israeli authorities. Against this
troubling background, and in contrast to ndings from Jordan, most research
participants spoke positively about accessing primary care, including maternity
services. Most were treated for free in an UNRWA clinic. However, dental treat-
ment and anything beyond primary care had to be accessed elsewhere, often
at a cost beyond the means of our interviewees.
When it comes to
health, we are suffering
a lot. Your son is sick
and in pain, crying in
front of you, and you
can’t do much and have
no money to take him
to a hospital.
—Somali father, Amman,
Jordan, August 2021
At the UNRWA clinic
there’s this doctor who
said my son needed
surgery and another
who said he didn’t
need to. I held onto the
second one’s opinion
since we cannot afford
surgery and the medi-
cines. And such things
that he requires after
surgery I cannot fulfil.
—Palestinian mother,
Gaza, Palestine,
October 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 33
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
5
“ We are connected well with the Somali
community. They are part of my life, and
we go to one another’s house, eat together,
and take time together. Our children all play
together, and they are connected. They take
care of each other. When my children want
something, I go to a Somali house.”
—Somali father, Amman, August 2021
33
Efforts to protect
SUMMARY
of FINDINGS:
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 34
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
Some strategies were commonly identied across the dierent refugee
communities. Some, however, were specic to certain communities reecting
the particularity of that community and its situation. Furthermore, there were
dierences within communities for example, challenges faced by households
with a sole caregiver compared to those with two or more caregivers. There
was also a dierence between those trying to address immediate risks and
those whose primary concern was to protect children’s long-term futures.
5.1. TURNING TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Refugee communities may turn to school administration or teachers to address
bullying, physical violence, or verbal attacks against their children. In Jordan
especially, caregivers reported that they usually complain to the school only
when incidents of violence became frequent. In most cases, they tried to
resolve the issue informally with the administration. This is also true when the
perpetrator is a teacher or the school principal. This restrained approach is
preferable for caregivers who fear that formal complaints may create a backlash
against them or their children. Caregivers described using a similar approach
when dealing with violence against children in the street, for example, on
their way to and from school, playing in the park, or just hanging out. Some
reported that they complained to the perpetrator’s parents, which may have
resolved the issue momentarily, or that specic incident, but it did not neces-
sarily reduce tensions that underlie many attacks by peers.
It is not common for refugees to report interpersonal violence to the police or
wider justice system. Dierent refugee communities in Jordan listed several
reasons for not seeking redress through national authorities, including previ-
ous experience or the general impression that the police and other institutions
would always side with Jordanian citizens against refugees. Furthermore,
several caregivers explained their fear that involving authorities could put
them at risk of greater harm. Several research participants shared personal or
third-party experiences:
Having shared with researchers their UNDERSTANDING
and EXPERIENCE of risks to children’s safety, participants
were invited to explain strategies they used to minimise harm.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 35
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
I called the police, and they came to arrest the adult who had beatenmy son. His
family came after me in a car to the jail and asked me to give up on this case and
not to report. I didn’t agree to give up…because it happened more than once...But
this time, it was different as he hit my son in front of me, and I saw everything. He
is bigger and older than my son as he is in his twenties...He threatened me that he
will hire some people to come after me and beat and kill me…He said that ‘I am a
Jordanian, and I am the son of this land.’ That made me not report the incident.
—Somali mother, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
Nonetheless, when violence resulted in injury, or involved higher levels of
violence, such as sexual harassment, some caregivers sought justice from the
authorities. For example, when a child was beaten by a group of children, the
mother reported them to the police irrespective of the consequences:
First thing when I saw the boy was beaten everywhere; I couldn’t think. The first
thing that came to my mind was to go to the police to report it because it shouldn’t
happen to be beaten by more than 20 students. I went to the police, they referred
me to the juvenile department, and most importantly, we wrote an undertaking
that they would not attack him again.
—Somali mother, Amman, Jordan, October 2021
Whenever possible, participants chose local mediation instead of reporting to
the police and criminal justice system. Mediation might entail direct dialogue
between families or through the assistance of others in the community who
could defuse a tense situation or help nd a settlement that all parties might
accept. This was also a strategy employed by caregivers in Gaza.
5.2. SHIELDING
A common approach to protection is shielding children from potential harm
and threats of violence. In Jordan, research participants often minimised
interactions with host communities and encouraged their children to build
friendships within their own national group. Many caregivers take their chil-
dren to school daily or use a bus service if they can aord it. Several stated that
they keep their children indoors or close by and accompany them as much as
possible when they go further aeld for leisure opportunities to avoid verbal or
physical violence. Through such eorts, however, caregivers end up isolating
their children, potentially limiting their activities.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 36
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
My children don’t play outside at all. They only go to the store to shop,
and it is impossible for my young son to go, only to school. Their father
takes them to school, and I pick them up from school at noon. Because
I fear for them, I can’t leave them alone. So, my children don’t go to
the streets, and they don’t have any friends at all…my son was beaten
twice, and I fear it happening again, and I know that children in this
age suffer from worse things than beatings.
—Iraqi mother, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
To protect children who suer regular bullying and abuse, shielding sometimes
entails taking children out of school.
If this beating continues, I can keep him home, right? There is no
other solution. If you send your child,they beat him and they don’t do
anything about it. This is a difficulty.
—Somali Mother, Amman, Jordan October 2021
Particularly in Gaza, some caregivers explained that they encouraged their chil-
dren to defend themselves when subjected to violence. As already noted, this is
a setting where, in sharp contrast to the refugees in Jordan, the position of ref-
ugees and their descendants is not politically fragile. For the Syrians, Sudanese,
Somalis, and Iraqis in Jordan, retaliation might lead to worse outcomes, such as
further violence and problems with the authorities.
5.3. SEEKING SUPPORT FROM OTHERS
In both Jordan and Gaza, research participants often mentioned the need to
request cash from friends and family to cover medical or educational expenses.
In Jordan this was perpetuated by lack of access (Somalis, Sudanese, and Iraqis)
to the formal labour market, or by limited access (Syrians) to certain sectors.
This strategy is limited because members of these refugee communities, in
comparison to some citizens, lack vertical social connections to people with
inuence and better economic conditions.34 35 Within their immediate refugee
networks most are in a comparable situation. Nonetheless, people help when
they are able.
Reliance on family is more common in the Gaza Strip than in Jordan. This
nding was expected given the strong extended family ties there. The parents
of female caregivers were identied as a common source of support.
IN BOTH JORDAN
AND GAZA,
RESEARCH
PART ICI PAN TS
OFTEN MENTIONED
THE NEED TO
REQUEST CASH
FROM FRIENDS
AND FAMILY TO
COVER MEDICAL
OR EDUCATIONAL
EXPENSES.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 37
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
In Jordan, by comparison, refugees are mostly in nuclear families due
to displacement. Parallel to seeking help from family members in Gaza,
refugee communities in Jordan usually seek support from friends, especially
co-nationals.
In Gaza, both those registered as refugees and those considered to be Gazans
are likely to have large extended family networks close by. Grandparents,
uncles, and aunts may be a source of nancial and in-kind support. However,
an adult unemployment rate of approximately 60% and the consequent
poverty means this support may be limited and intermittent:
To be honest, my parents are the ones who help. Thank God for having them.
A woman without her parents can’t bear life. For example, when I can’t provide
something, they get it for me. When I can’t get diapers for my kid, they buy it for
me. My husband does provide, of course, but my parents offer great help.
—Palestinian mother, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
5.4. TAKING ON DEBT
When research participants could not seek help from within their networks,
they employed dierent strategies to get funds needed to ensure children’s
access to basic social services. One of the practices mentioned repeatedly
across all ve communities is buying on credit at local shops and pharmacies or
delaying rental payments. Debt relationships require trust and the ability of the
refugees to repay within an agreed timeframe. Without that, such strategies
become unsustainable. However, non-payment of debts may be a necessary
step for some, creating a cycle of constant upheaval. Here a Sudanese refugee
father describes how he manages the debt owed to property owners:
I was staying at home for more than three years. I didn’t manage to cover even
rental payments. I owe rent on three homes, more than 800or 900 dinars. Each
time the owner evicted us; I found a new house. Now I live in a house where I owe
four months’ rent. The money that I receive from UNHCR goes to debts.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 38
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
In Gaza, taking on debt was also a common strategy for managing economic
hardship, but many seek on support from extended family before pursuing
this option. Most reported that they had acquired a lot of debt. Sometimes,
this accumulated debt becomes a burden and prevents a family from meeting
children’s needs. For example, a male community worker in Gaza described the
impact of parental debt on children’s access to specialised medical services:
I went personally to the Health Ministry about children with kidney diseases and
I asked them to separate children from the rest of the family in the insurance. Deal
with the child as a child as he or she has an incurable disease without insurance.
There is a father with 1000 shekels’ insurance debt. He can’t pay it. His chil-
dren are connected with their father. So, it’s better that they let children to have
freehealthcare.
In addition to taking on debt, caregivers explained how they make choices to
prioritise children’s needs:
Sometimes I have to take from the food coupon. Instead of buying food, I save
some of the amounts to get the medication for the child.
—Syrian mother, Amman, Jordan August 2021
Choices are also made between children’s immediate and long-term needs,
for example, by spending limited resources to support children’s education.
Research participants reported many dilemmas on how to use very limited
funds to best protect their children:
My son needed a dental check-up, and I was unable to pay the treatment expenses
- it’s 10 JD. So, I had to feed him apples so that [the tooth] breaks off on its own.
—Iraqi mother, Amman, Jordan September 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 39
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
5.5. CHILDREN’S EFFORTS TO
PROTECT THEMSELVES
Several children described strategies for self-protection to deal with threats
of interpersonal violence and ensure they can cope with challenges in school
that might otherwise cause them to drop out. Such accounts remind us that
children are not passive objects of protection eorts but can ensure their own
wellbeing and that of others, including caregivers. For example, children shared
experiences of trying to tackle racist abuse:
Peer researcher: Have you ever tried to raise awareness at school? And was it successful?
Interviewee: I did once with my classmates. They said something to me, and I com-
plained to the teacher, and she told me to tell them what the problem was
and how to solve it. So, I told them that it’s just the colour that’s dierent
and that we all think the same and have the same brains and that if they
touched me their colour wouldn’t change.
Peer researcher: Did you feel that they responded to you and that the way they treated
you changed?
Interviewee: Yes, I felt that it changed.
—15-year-old Sudanese girl, Sahab, Jordan, August 2021
Strategies to minimise risks on the street often entail joining with others,
invariably with peers from the same community:
I don’t go to places I don’t know how to get to. I’m afraid of getting
kidnapped. Abdali Mall, I know how to get to. There are some older
girls with us. One of them is 22 years old. When we go, most of us go
with her and we feel confident she can protect us. Even the young girls
now go with us, and they see us as older girls.
—16-year-old Somali girl, Amman, Jordan, 2021
Strategies were highly gendered. Young men were more likely to respond to
violence and abuse in a comparable manner, sometimes bringing together a
group of friends from the same community to respond to attacks.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 40
5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: EFFORTS TO PROTECT
Finally, several children explained how they manage their diculties to
minimise their caregivers’ stress. Typically, they chose not to share their strug-
gles at school or the abuse and attacks they suered. They also chose to go
without certain basics rather than place further demands on caregivers striving
to maintain a household in the face of deepening poverty:
When I grew up a little bit, I realized that the lack of [money to take to
school] was not due to my mother. It is our situation in general of being
in Jordan: that we are refugees who left our country, and we cannot
return. So, it is already a hopeless situation. So, I reached the point to
be silent… Before it was hurting me a lot. Now it is hurting, but it’s not
the same as when I was little.
—17-year-old Somali girl, Amman, Jordan, October 2021
Photo: Anas-Mohammed/Shutterstock
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 41
6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: ACCESSING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
6
“ I only knock on God’s door. I don’t know
any other door to knock on.”
—Somali mother, Amman, August 2021
41
Accessing humanitarian
assistance
SUMMARY
of FINDINGS:
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 42
6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: ACCESSING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
In our research we keep in mind THE DISTINCTION
BETWEEN (a) the protection of children within daily life, principally
by those in their immediate environment, and (b) Child Protection as an
institutionalised set of practices undertaken by humanitarian organisa-
tions. Having discussed the eorts of caregivers and others to address
serious threats of harm to children, we now consider community
members’ perspectives on the role these organisations have in relation
to their own eorts to protect the young. We oer insights into the con-
nection between humanitarian workers and research participants, and
participants’ views on the relevance and utility of the support provided.
6.1. UNHCR AND UNRWA
A parallel emerged from our research concerning UNHCR and UNRWA. Both
were mentioned repeatedly by research participants. However, while the
UNHCR plays a key role in the lives of Syrians, Somalis, Sudanese and Iraqis,
they discussed UNHCR in dierent terms compared to how Palestinians in
Gaza spoke about UNRWA. In certain respects, both organisations function as
quasi-governmental bodies, but activities and modes of engagement dier.
UNRWA is a unique humanitarian organisation within the UN system given
that its sta are overwhelmingly Palestinians registered as refugees. Indeed,
UNRWA is a major employer in Gaza and thus plays a key role in the local
economy. The agency was most mentioned for health and education services,
the quality of which met expectations. Child protection was not mentioned by
research participants. It is likely that, in part at least, this reects an assumption
that the source of major risks – war and blockade – are beyond the capacity of
UNRWA to address in any meaningful way.
UNHCR does not directly deliver basic services but facilitates refugees’ access
to health and education. The basis of such facilitation is the provision of
documentation that provides a semi-formal status. Refugees who arrived in
Jordan after UNHCR had stopped formal registration in 2019 (according to the
demands of the Jordanian government) were provided with an ‘appointment’
letter indicating that UNHCR would interview them for registration after the
government policy changed. All research participants received a monthly
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 43
6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: ACCESSING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
stipend from UNHCR of 100 to 300 JD depending on factors such as family size. In some cases,
part of the stipend came through food vouchers from the World Food Programme. Such
support was the main income for most families, particularly non-Syrians who were not allowed
to work in the formal labour market.
Regarding healthcare, UNHCR made referrals to various international and
national NGOs in Amman. Experience with this agency was mixed. Some par-
ticipants recounted frustrating interactions, noting long response times. When
seeking access to both education and healthcare, such slowness exacerbated
conditions of many households obliged to pay for medical or school fees:
But the school wants the fees of 40 JD for the whole year. They told me that I have
to pay. Yesterday the teacher called me, and she said you have to pay on your own. I
said, ‘Ok what about UNHCR?’ She said ‘No, UNHCR is late, we want the fees.’
—Sudanese mother, Sahab, Jordan, October 2021
UNHCR’s role in protecting children from violence was mentioned principally
in terms of legal support and advice. As with health and education, research
participants were commonly referred to another agency with specialisation in
that area. Nevertheless, there was a widespread sense that UNHCR was respon-
sible for the protection of refugees. For some this expectation was met. Others
expressed frustration or resignation:
Now I consider myself safe because we are under the protection of the UNHCR
and my children have documents, and if they need treatment, they can be treated,
and if someone assaults them, they can go to the UNHCR. So, I consider it safer
here than in Sudan.
—Sudanese mother, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
A lawyer from the UNHCR was in contact with me because I am a minor. We told
him that an old person wanted to assault me…He told us: ‘This is a community
problem. We have nothing to do with this, so it’s better to leave this place.’ He
didn’t help us.
—Sudanese 17-year-old girl, Amman, Jordan, October 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 44
6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: ACCESSING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
We do not have the space in this report for detailed discussion of dierent
humanitarian agencies’ CP programming. However, our research indicates dif-
ferences between protection issues identied by major agencies and primary
concerns articulated to us by participants.
As noted in Sec tio n 1.1, the issues typically
receiving attention within the CP sector in
Gaza and Jordan include child marriage,
child labour/begging, and violence against
children, particularly violence that is gen-
der-based/sexual/domestic. Regarding child
labour, caregivers expressed anxiety about
exploitation rather than the work itself.
Indeed, participants in both Gaza and Jordan
spoke of children’s employment as necessary
for household survival.
Child marriage was never discussed and domestic violence was rarely
mentioned. We do not suggest that these are not issues but rather that these
were not the sources of harm prioritised by participants.
6.2. OTHER ORGANISATIONS
Participants in both Jordan and Gaza mentioned several other organisations
as sources of support. In Jordan, these can be divided into two groups. The
rst group consists of agencies that are part of a formal structure of humani-
tarian aid: national and international organisations that are often encountered
through referral by UNHCR. In Jordan this included INGOs like Caritas and CARE;
national NGOs like the Institute for Family Health/Noor Al-Hussein Foundation
oering health and counselling services; or the legal aid organisation Arab
Renaissance for Democracy and Development. From the way they were
discussed, it seemed that for many refugees these are seen as an extension
of UNHCR. This view reects the arrangement that exists between UNHCR
and other organisations that are funded to conduct various activities on the
former’s behalf.
Like UNHCR, engagement with these organisations was mixed. Some described
specic needs that were met or specic problems, such as mental health chal-
lenges faced by children, that were ameliorated. Others described receiving
responses too late.
There are Sudanese children – 12, 13, 14, 15 years
old – working as casual labour to support their fam-
ilies in covering everyday expenditure. Parents are
not able to cover that cost, kids are working in coffee
shops…Iunderstand that they are in need: I lived with
them for a long time and know them personally. They
are really in need.
—Sudanese father, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 45
6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: ACCESSING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
The second group of organisations was more informal, with an ethos of
voluntary service and ongoing community engagement, for example,
Sawiyan and CRP, which were amongst the research partners in Jordan. Unlike
many of the larger agencies that refugees approached for assistance, these
organisations oered support and a range of leisure and community activities
over extended periods, building relationships in the process. Alongside such
community-based initiatives, research participants discussed small initiatives
that provided immediate material support for specic needs. These were
often associated with a religious organisation, such as a church or mosque.
Iraqiparticipants from small religious minorities spoke of mutual aid groups
for co-believers, the knowledge of which spread by word of mouth. Assistance
given might be rationed according to available resources and was unlikely to
be sustained. Nevertheless, participants recounted situations of desperation
when such an organisation quickly provided valuable support:
Our charity for Sabians helps us but not on a monthly basis. Just on the religious
occasions, and they give just 10 JD per family...The support to the charity is very
little, since there is not a specific institution to support. It’s just a group of indi-
viduals who belong to the sect and live abroad…The collected amounts are either
distributed as aid, or for medication purposes, or for the urgent cases.
—Iraqi mother, Amman, Jordan, August 2021
Gaza participants mentioned a smaller range of organisations from which
they sought support. Beyond UNRWA these included project partner,
the Tamer Institute, and the local Red Crescent Society, both of which
oered varying assistance and opportunities. Discussion of assistance from
extended family was greater than mention of support from institutions.
This was the opposite of Jordan where most participants lived in nuclear,
two-generational households, and lacked a family network of support.
In Gaza we enquired about people’s experience of government support
in caring for their children but there were few examples. In fact, discus-
sion of political authorities in Gaza was largely negative, alluding to the
failure to provide for children. Given the schism between Hamas and the
Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, and the no-contact policy of major donors
towards Hamas, it is unsurprising that caregivers should see the government
asunsupportive.
…no one cares about the children from the government…the government is
supposed to provide psychological support for children, entertainment, open
parks, and playing areas, but the government does nothing.
—Palestinian Father, Gaza, Palestine, October 2021
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 46
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING NEGLECT
7
46
Understanding neglect
DISCUSSION
of FINDINGS:
“ We do not provide for them. I mean, it is
not in my hands. I cannot provide them
with anything. But the help is in my
heart, and from the bottom of my heart
I can help them. I mean, I talk to them
about the current circumstances, and that
they must be patient, and I tell them that
this is what we have, if we don’t have,
that is it.”
—Sudanese mother, Amman, August, 2021
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 47
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING NEGLECT
In Section 2, informed by research, we made several
OBSERVATIONS regarding child neglect in
humanitarian settings, which are summarised below:
• neglect is widely acknowledged within the literature as the most
widespread form of child maltreatment and thus a major child
protection concern
• the study of child neglect in settings of humanitarian action is limited
• neglect, when discussed, is commonly framed as a failure of caregivers to
meet children’s basic needs
• research indicates that neglect is also a product of the
humanitarian system
We also noted the ndings of a 2018 desk-based study of child neglect in
settings of humanitarian action commissioned by The Alliance.36 Drawing on
the literature, the authors identied seven forms of neglect. We consider four
in relation to our community-based research: (1) physical neglect, (2) medical
neglect, (3) educational neglect, and (4) supervisory neglect. The intention is
to illustrate that child neglect should be seen as the product of a humanitarian
system as it functions in dierent geographical settings for dierent popu-
lations. This perspective does not deny caregivers’ responsibility; however,
a wider picture is vital to prevent neglect. Moreover, we must consider how
the humanitarian system may be neglectful when it is undermined in its child
protection and wellbeing eorts by underfunding and, in some cases, lack of
donor government political will. This perspective connects neglect at the local
level to national and global decisions.
Caregivers require nancial resources to meet children’s basic needs. We
described the eects of grinding poverty on all ve communities. Whether
due to legal constraints on working in the formal economy (Jordan) or because
of chronic lack of employment opportunities in an economy under blockade
PHYSICAL NEGLECT:
failure to protect a child from harm or to fulfil a child’s
rights to the necessities for survival including adequate
food, shelter, clothing, and basic medical care.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 48
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING NEGLECT
(Gaza), caregivers are forced to piece together resources to provide for children.
This may be a combination of stipends from humanitarian organisations,
occasional earnings from exploitative labour, small gifts from extended family
or community members, and the amassing of debt. Long-term poverty creates
pressure for children to take up employment that may be unsafe.
Elements of the humanitarian system contribute to physical neglect. In Jordan,
the host government’s policy against refugees accessing legal employment
prevents caregivers from providing basic necessities for children’s survival.
Humanitarian organisations and major governmental donors have managed
to inuence the government to some extent. Since 2017 some Syrian refugees
have been granted work permits in a few sectors. Meanwhile, donors have
given insucient funds for the universal rollout of cash assistance to provide
food, housing, clothing, and medical care. Caregivers limited resources result
in priority dilemmas that consider not only children’s physical survival but
also their dignity. The state of the clothing children wear to school or the
food they bring with them to eat alongside classmates have a bearing on how
they feel about themselves and can impact their willingness to participate in
formalschooling.
As reported above, in Gaza access to basic medical care for refugee children
is generally adequate, principally through UNRWA clinics where diagnosis
and treatment are free. But beyond basic care the limitations and costs of the
health system create signicant challenges for caregivers of children with
more serious conditions. Blockade, damage through military attack, under-
funding, and shortage of senior health professionals cause medical neglect,
compounded by caregivers’ poor economic circumstances that limit access to
private health facilities.
In Jordan, access exists in principle; however, as participants explained,
accessing health professionals for diagnosis and treatment is dicult and can
be costly. Obtaining approval for medical costs from UNHCR can be time con-
suming and is followed by long waiting times at a limited number of accessible
clinics. Opportunity costs are not looking after other children and foregoing
MEDICAL NEGLECT:
failure to seek timely and appropriate medical care for a
serious physical or mental health condition.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 49
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING NEGLECT
opportunities to earn money (albeit in the informal economy). Thus, the
humanitarian system in Jordan is implicated in medical neglect. Caregivers are
likely to seek more accessible treatments, often palliative rather than remedial,
to try and manage a child’s health problem, minimising nancial costs and
time. Options are more limited for mental health issues.
For most caregivers, gaining children’s access to medical services is an
occasional task. By comparison, ensuring children’s access to formal schooling
is an ongoing, sometimes daily, challenge. In Jordan, particularly non-Syrian ref-
ugees can face hurdles every school year and sometimes more frequently.
Several hurdles are direct consequences of the humanitarian system. Lack
of consistency of and poor coordination between public sector employees
(notably school principals), humanitarian organisations, host government, and
major donors have produced many of these hurdles. The need to get specic
documentation demanded by schools for registration, the time required to
get free schoolbooks through a complex system, and the lack of certainty that
free access will continue year over year are some of the problems due to the
humanitarian system. In addition, caregivers reported the need to regularly
visit schools to address verbal and physical abuse, and mistreatment by teach-
ers. These challenges are in addition to the ongoing need to nd funds for
uniforms, food, and transportation to and from school. Numerous participants
in Jordan said they had to remove children from school due to cost barriers
and, most commonly, to prevent direct physical and psychological harm
against children.
In Gaza dropout was also mentioned but generally due to the family’s
economic situation, which is a further consequence of the dynamic that has led
to steadily worsening poverty; a dynamic that the humanitarian system has not
been able to address.
EDUCATIONAL NEGLECT:
failure to secure a child’s education through
attendance at school or otherwise.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 50
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING NEGLECT
For dierent reasons, children across the ve communities do not enjoy a safe
environment. In Gaza this is most obviously due to military violence routinely
injuring and killing children and destroying civilian infrastructure. Given the
impossibility for caregivers to prevent such harm, the common response was
to try to reduce children’s fears and trauma. In addition to immediate risks
created by armed conict, children’s environment is chronically unsafe. Ruined
buildings, simply left in rubble, perpetuate risk to children, particularly when
they seek play spaces, amidst the densely populated terrain of the Gaza Strip.
Caregivers cannot solve this issue alone. It requires concerted eorts to render
the environment safe and ensure children can enjoy suitable space for play.
In Jordan, refugee children’s environment is rendered unsafe by the threat
of physical and verbal abuse. We have shared quotes illustrating some of the
serious harm that children experience, particularly those of darker skin. Police,
the legal system, and public sector employees often fail to act impartially to
ensure children can learn, play, and relax without fear of harm. There seems
to be a disconnect between humanitarian organisations and the Jordanian
authorities. As non-citizens, caregivers are often left to seek justice or protec-
tion on their own from a position of considerable disadvantage.
The provision of appropriate adult supervision emerged in interviews in both
Jordan and Gaza. Alongside the constraints arising from poverty and the
need to devote time to scrape together the means to meet basic needs, many
caregivers described situations of overload. Particularly in Jordan, the threats
to children in everyday life require refugee caregivers to be present in more
settings, more regularly than most citizens. As noted, they also commonly
lack extended family networks to draw on for assistance. The numerous lone
caregivers, typically women, face particular challenges in supervising several
children at once.
SUPERVISORY NEGLECT:
failure to provide a safe environment with appropriate
adult supervision, thereby placing the child at
risk of harm.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 51
8. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
8
51
“ I say, God willing, we as children will live in
safety. I do not want peace just for myself.
This peace should be available to everyone.”
—11 year-old girl from the Gaza Strip, Palestine,
October 2021
CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS
and
Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 52
8. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The research that informs this report provides a UNIQUE
PERSPECTIVE. Rather than taking humanitarian program-
ming as the central focus we chose to prioritise the perspectives and
experiences of caregivers and children from dierent national commu-
nities: Palestinian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Somali, and Syrian. Adopting this
approach allowed us to consider the relevance of humanitarian action
to these vulnerable populations and their eorts to protect the young.
By placing the experience and perspectives of caregivers, striving to protect
children, at the heart of our enquiry, we did not intend to dismiss the signicant
role of CP professionals. Indeed, our research participants had clear ideas about
the need for local, national, and international organisations to play their respec-
tive part in ensuring children are protected from ongoing, serious threats to
their wellbeing.
Central to our analysis was the distinction between (a) CP as an institutionalised
eld of humanitarian action, and (b) the eorts of caregivers and children
to ensure the protection of children in everyday life. Some dierentiat-
ing characteristics of (a) and (b) are indicated in Table 1 in section 2 and
reproduced here:
Table 4: Some key distinguishing factors of Child Protection and protecting children
Child Protection protecting children
Primary agents
of protection
Professional humanitarians, social
workers, and CBOs
Parents/caregivers,
children themselves
Object of protection Individual children Children as family, household, and
community members
Source for identifying main
protection issues
Institutional (primarily global with
eort to ‘contextualise’) Daily life (inherently local)
Framing and
justifying discourse Child rights Children’s needs
The dierences indicated in Table 4 should not be seen as irreconcilable. Quite
the opposite. We contend that addressing child neglect necessitates a dynamic
relationship between CP professionals and communities. For example, human-
itarians’ focus on children as individual rights holders, should not preclude
engagement with the concerns of caregivers about meeting the protection
needs of all children in their care. Indeed, it seems vital that CP programming
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 53
8. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
takes account of the considerations of caregivers trying to ensure the safety
of several children simultaneously. As our research indicates, given economic
deprivation, inaccessible basic services, and threat of violence, caregivers must
prioritise, asking questions about which child is most immediately under threat
and who is most vulnerable to harm due to gender, age, personality, and so on.
Professional humanitarians, caregivers, and children need to bring their
dierent perspectives into sustained dialogue if CP programming is to make
a meaningful contribution to everyday eorts to protect children. Protection
issues that should receive specic attention must be identied collaboratively,
and institutional assumptions considered through the lens of local experience.
Professional humanitarians need a reexive approach that questions
assumptions behind eorts to target caregivers with messages intended to
change attitudes and behaviours considered by humanitarians as giving rise
to the neglect or harm of children. Child neglect should, instead, be seen as a
product of the humanitarian system, broadly conceived, in which humanitarian
organisations and caregivers are the two central elements, each needing the
other to develop a broader understanding.
In-depth ongoing dialogue between professional humanitarians and
caregivers is strongly implied in the localisation vision that is a key element of
The Alliance’s ve-year strategy. We endorse this focus on localisation, which
according to the Alliance, involves:
Re-conceptualising understandings of capacity and expertise that
prioritise Indigenous values and approaches to children’s protection
and well-being; that build on the wealth of knowledge from com-
munity, local, and national actors; and that use these as the basis for
capacity sharing and learning initiatives.
—The Alliance 2021–2025 Strategy, p.2437
Within the CP eld, the rights-based approach, partnership, and participation
are well-established notions that resonate with localisation and bring
into question the distribution and exercise of power. Encouragingly, in its
ve-year strategy The Alliance calls for the ‘redistribution of power’ from the
UN agencies and INGOs to ‘national and local actors’. Strengthening chan-
nels for ongoing communication between humanitarian organisations and
communities where children are at risk could contribute to a redistribution
of power. But it needs to be thorough and ongoing, with regular discussions
about project conceptualisation, evaluation, review, and so on. Such commu-
nication would both constitute and promote appreciation for the insights that
ENCOURAGINGLY, IN
ITS FIVE-YEAR
STRATEGY THE ACPHA
CALLS FOR THE
‘REDISTRIBUTION
OF POWER’ FROM
THE UN AGENCIES AND
INGOs TO ‘NATIONAL
AND LOCAL ACTORS’.
54
8. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
caregivers and children can provide. We hope, through this report, to have
shared ndings that demonstrate the immense value of those insights and
the ethical and practical rationale for CP professionals to embrace these in the
design, implementation, and evaluation of their work.
8.1. RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conduct a ‘neglect audit’ in each setting involving CP professionals and
community members that traces if and how the humanitarian system
contributes to neglect, asking these key questions:
• are all populations of displaced and conict-aected children being
served, and being served equitably, by child protection programming,
in keeping with the core humanitarian principle of impartiality and the
notion of universality that is central to the UNCRC?
• do humanitarian organisations fully understand the risks faced by children
and the challenges encountered by caregivers in addressing those risks?
What steps are they taking to develop their understanding of an evolving
situation through engagement at community level?
• are measures to address the risks appropriate and holistic. For example,
when addressing issues such as child labour and child marriage do human-
itarian organisations consider political and economic causes as well as
those associated with social and cultural forces?
2. Address directly the connections between elements of the humanitarian
system in each setting that need change or strengthening to reduce the
likelihood of child neglect.
54Photo: Fares Sakkijha/Seenaryo
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 55
ENDNOTES
1 Grant number AH/T007508/1.
2 Global Protection Cluster (2014). ‘Child Protection in Emergencies is About Preventing and Responding to
Violence, Abuse, Exploitation and Neglect of Children During Times of Emergency Caused by Natural and
Man-Made Disasters, Conict or Other Crises.’ Accessed 3 February 2022.
3 The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (2018). Child Neglect in Humanitarian Settings:
Literature review and recommendations for strengthening prevention and response. Geneva:
The Alliance.
4 We followed the 2018 study of child neglect commissioned by the Alliance for Child Protection in
Humanitarian Action, in dening neglect as ‘the intentional or unintentional failure of a caregiver – any
person, community, or institution (including the State) with clear responsibility for the wellbeing of
the child – to protect a child from actual or potential harm or to full that child’s rights to wellbeing’.
The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (2018). Child Neglect in Humanitarian
Settings: Literature review and recommendations for strengthening prevention and response. Geneva:
TheAlliance.
5 UNRWA, accessed 13 April 2022 at https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip.
6 Ibid, accessed 5 May 2022.
7 UNOC HA (2021).’ Protection of Civilians Report | 24-31 May 2021,’ accessed 5 May 2022.
8 The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (2019). Minimum Standards for Child Protection
in Humanitarian Action (2019 Edition). Geneva: The Alliance, accessed 5 May 2022.
9 Eirik Christophersen (2020). “These 10 countries receive the most refugees,” the Norwegian Refugee
Council, published 01 Nov 2020, accessed 5 May 2022.
10 UNRWA, accessed 5 May 2022 at https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/jordan.
11 UNHCR (2022). ‘Jordan - Statistical Report on UNHCR Registered PoC as of 15 April 2022’,
accessed 24 April 2022.
12 The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (2020). Jordan
Response Plan for the Syria Crisis 2020-2022, United Nations and Jordan Response Platform for the
SyriaCrisis, accessed 24 April 2022.
13 UNHRC, accessed 5 May 2022 at https://help.unhcr.org/jordan/en/helpful-services-unhcr/
resettlement-unhcr/.
14 United Nations (1989). “Convention on the Rights of the Child,” Treaty Series 1577 (November): 3.
15 Ibid, The Alliance 2019.
16 Jordan is not a State Party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol; hence residency is
generally limited only to those with considerable nancial resources or sought-after professional skills.
17 On average, the research participants from the Iraqi community had been in Jordan for four years, nine
years for the participants from the Syrian community. The participants from the Sudanese community had
been in Jordan for 12 years on average, and more than half of them had been in Jordan for longer than
14years (56%).
18 See K. Vitus, ‘Waiting Time: The De-Subjectication of Children in Danish Asylum Centres,’ Childhood 17(1),
26–42. Also, K. Robjant, R. Hassan, & C. Katona (2009). ‘Mental Health Implications of Detaining Asylum
Seekers: Systematic Review,’British Journal of Psychiatry 194(4), 306-312. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.053223.
Neglect and the protection of refugee children: A report on research in Jordan and the Gaza Strip, Palestine 56
ENDNOTES
19 Baughan, E. (2022). Saving the Children: Humanitarianism, Internationalism, and Empire. Oakland:
University of California Press; Cabanes, B. (2014). The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism
1918-1924. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20 Ibid, United Nations (1989).
21 See, for example, The Alliance Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
(2019 Edition), ibid.
22 The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (2021). ‘Clarion Call: The Centrality of Children
and their Protection within Humanitarian Action, 2021-2025 Strategy,’ Geneva: The Alliance.
Accessed 2 June 2022.
23 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
24 UNRWA, accessed 13 April 2022 at https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip.
25 Global Protection Cluster, Child Protection (2014). ‘What is Child Protection in Emergencies?,’
accessed 3 February 2022.
26 Ibid, The Alliance (2018), p.3.
27 Ibid, p.8.
28 Categories are quoted directly from The Alliance (2018), p.8-9.
29 Ethics approval for the project was obtained through the ESRC-compliant Social Science Research Ethics
Committee at the University of Bath.
30 10 and 15 from the Sudanese community in Sahab and Amman respectively, 15 from the Somali
community, 15 from the Syrian community, 15 from the Iraqi community, and 30 from refugees in the
Gaza Strip.
31 The ve elds of UNRWA operations are: Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. As well as being
a source of support, UNRWA is also a major employer.
32 At the time of research, 1 JD (Jordanian dinar) was equivalent to roughly £1.10. So, the journey would cost
around £11 ($15) – a signicant amount for families living on cash assistance of 300 JD per month or less to
cover housing, food, utilities, and all other bills.
33 ICRC, ‘Gaza: Health situation in Gaza’, accessed 5.5.2022.
34 Johnston, R., Kvittingen, A., Baslan, D., & Verduijn S. H. (2019). Social Networks in Refugee Response: What
we can learn from Sudanese and Yemeni in Jordan. Amman: Mixed Migration Centre.
Accessed 26 April 2022.
35 As opposed to horizontal social connections that link people to others who share similar social
characteristics, in this case the same socio-economic status.
36 Ibid, The Alliance (2018).
37 Ibid, The Alliance (2021).