New Guidance for Child Assistance & Protection

Two new publications are available that provide operational guidance for field staff who work with children.

Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies: Operational Guidance for Emergency Relief Staff and Programme Managers (May 2006) [text]
- The "aim of this document is to provide concise, practical (but non technical) guidance on how to ensure appropriate infant and young child feeding in emergencies. ...The Operational Guidance focuses especially on infants and young children under 2 years of age and their caregivers, recognising their particular vulnerability in emergencies." This is an update of the 2001 version.

UNHCR Guidelines on Formal Determination of the Best Interests of the Child (May 2006) [text]
- The "Guidelines identify the underlying principles that can be used to construct a framework for ensuring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child in a formal Best Interests Determination (BID). They set out the legal and other principles that will guide decision-makers in (i) When to make a formal Best Interests Determination; (ii) Who should make the determination and what procedural safeguards should be followed; (iii) How criteria should be applied to take a decision in a particular case." These Guidelines will eventually be incorporated into an update of Refugee Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care (1994).

Posted in Publications.