Exploring the impact of coronavirus on children's rights

As the world faces up to the challenges of dealing with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, CRIN is producing a series of features exploring how the pandemic and the measures to prevent its spread impact the human rights of under-18s. Below is a developing list of the issues we’re looking at.

lightbulb hot water balloon with people inside with blue liquid and a ladder in the bulb

Covid-19 children’s rights monitoring

CRIN is monitoring policy developments and recommendations on the human rights of under-18s in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are sharing them here and will be updating this page regularly.

Positive pandemic projects

With Covid-19 coverage focusing more on the negative impact the pandemic is having on citizens worldwide, here we swap ‘what’s gone wrong’ with ‘what’s gone right’, as we take a brief look at creative and considerate initiatives that have also come out of the pandemic.

Mental healthcare for children during Covid-19 in India

In a country that spends less than one percent of its health budget on mental healthcare, how has the Covid-19 pandemic affected people’s mental health, including children’s? To find out more, CRIN spoke with Kavita Mangnani, clinical psychologist and director of the restorative care programme at HAQ-Centre for Child Rights in Delhi.

Corporate bailout or cash transfers for all, including children?

What are the challenges today to the fulfilment of children’s economic and social rights, and how can they be met during and after a pandemic? In this article, we take a look at Universal Basic Income, including for children.

Crisis management 101: treating the climate crisis like a pandemic

This guest article by Youth 4 Climate Action Korea covers the need to treat the climate crisis as urgently as any pandemic and that young people, as the biggest stakeholders, need to be included in developing an equitable recovery and development policy.

Surveillance and digital privacy during Covid-19

Since schools in many countries moved learning online, questions around safeguarding, protection of children’s data, and surveillance have arisen. In this feature, we ask three organisations working on children’s rights in the digital sphere how they see things.

Children in out-of-home care: lessons from the pandemic

Just like detention centres and care homes, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that keeping vulnerable children in residential institutions is dangerous. Institutions are not only breeding grounds for infectious diseases, but the institutional model of care is outdated. Governments should instead invest in keeping families together.

When women and children cannot escape their abusers

Following the announcement of country lockdowns, reports of domestic violence made the news almost daily. Here we take a look at data from national child and domestic violence helplines, which have recorded both a rise and fall in complaints during lockdown, and what this tells us. The article also examines why poverty is leading to families exploiting their children.

The impact of coronavirus on Mapuche children in La Araucanía, Chile

Most of Chile’s Mapuche people live in La Araucania, the country’s poorest region which also presents the second highest number of Covid-19 infections. We spoke with local Mapuche activist and educational psychologist Onésima Lienqueo to find out how the pandemic is impacting Mapuche children.

Eliminating age discrimination from lockdown curfews

To contain the spread of Covid-19, most countries have introduced curfews for all citizens, but a number of them have only introduced them for certain age groups, including under-18s. Here we review the ethics of age-based curfews and their effectiveness in the fight against the pandemic.

The impact of coronavirus on working children in Buenos Aires

Millions of workers in the informal economy cannot comply with lockdown rules, including child and adolescent workers, as their livelihood depends on going out to work. We spoke with Argentinian sociologist and teacher Santiago Morales to learn more about how young people from Buenos Aires’ low-income neighbourhoods are coping.

Women and girls’ reproductive rights under lockdown

Some countries have categorised abortion as a non-essential health service during this pandemic, while others have removed certain restrictions to accessing abortion. To find out what is the current state of women and girls’ reproductive rights we spoke with the Senior Global Advocacy Advisor at the Center for Reproductive Rights office in Geneva.

Read, EnglishMaria ThanNovember 3, 2020CovidComment