Child Safeguarding Policy

Definitions 

• Child – For purpose of this policy, a child is defined as anyone under the age of eighteen years, in accordance with Article 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.1 

• Child Beneficiary—For the purpose of this policy, “child beneficiary” refers to all children who benefit from or come into contact with IRC implemented or financially supported projects. 

• Child Abuse and Exploitation – For purpose of this policy, “child abuse” and “child exploitation” shall mean any and all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. 

• Harm – For purpose of this policy, “harm” refers to physical or psychological injury or damage to a child’s health, survival, development or dignity. 

• Suppliers/ Sub-Contractors – For purpose of this policy, “suppliers/ sub-contractors” refer to individuals, companies, or organizations with whom the IRC has a contractual relationship for the provision of goods or services. 

• Sub-grantees – For the purpose of this policy, “sub-grantees” refers to organizations to which an award of financial assistance is made under a grant by the IRC when the IRC is the Grant Holder (“prime” recipient). 

• Implementing Partners – For the purpose of this policy, “implementing partners” refers to private and public entities, other than sub-grantees or suppliers/sub-contractors, with which the IRC has a contractual agreement or memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purposes of project implementation. 

• IRC Workers – For the purpose of this policy, “IRC worker” refers to employees, fellows and interns, incentive workers, volunteers, contracted workers, consultants, and independent contractors. 

• Visitors – For the purpose of this policy, “visitors” refers to individuals hosted by the IRC, who are visiting IRC implemented or financially supported projects and are not IRC workers, or others involved in project implementation. It includes journalists, photographers, IRC voices, board members, and donors, among others. 

The Policy: 

In accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 

(UNCRC), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) recognizes the right of all children to be protected from all forms of abuse and exploitation and in accordance with Article 3, all actions on child safeguarding shall be taken in the best interest of the child, which are paramount. The IRC further recognizes its responsibility to ensure that IRC projects, workers, and others working with or on behalf of the IRC do no harm to children. The IRC is committed to ensuring that our organizational policies, protocol, procedures, and actions reflect our commitment to fulfilling this responsibility.  

1. Zero Tolerance 

The IRC has a zero tolerance policy regarding the abuse and exploitation of children. IRC workers, visitors, sub-grantees, suppliers/sub-contractors, and implementing partners are prohibited from engaging in any form of abuse or exploitation of children. 

2. Behavioral Protocol 

The IRC is committed to ensuring that IRC workers, visitors, sub-grantees, suppliers/sub- contractors, and implementing partners conduct themselves in a way that is safe for children. IRC workers are required to comply with the behavioral protocol outlined below: 

IRC workers must not: 

1. Physically punish or discipline child beneficiaries. 

2. Do things for children of an intimate, personal nature that they can do for themselves. 

3. Act in ways intended to shame, humiliate, belittle or degrade children, or otherwise perpetrate any form of emotional abuse. 

4. Engage in sexual activity with children regardless of the age of consent locally. Mistaken belief in the age of the child is not a defense. 

5. Marry children, or allow their children to be married to others. 

6. Arrange, facilitate, or otherwise allow or neglect to prevent their children from undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). 

7. Use language or behavior around or towards children that is inappropriate, harassing, abusive, sexually provocative, or demeaning. 

8. Invite child beneficiaries into their home, unless the supervisor has agreed that it is necessary for the protection of the child. 

9. Sleep in the same bed or room as a child beneficiary. If it is necessary to sleep in the same room, ensure that another adult is present and that supervisor’s permission has been obtained. 

10. Discriminate against, show differential treatment to, or favor particular children to the exclusion of others.  

11. Hire children for domestic or other labor regardless of national labor laws, which is inappropriate given their age or developmental stage, interferes with their education or recreational activities, or places them at significant risk of injury. 

12. Develop relationships with children that could in any way be deemed inappropriate, exploitative or abusive. 

13. Use any computers, mobile phones, video cameras, or social media to harass children. 

14. Access child pornography through any medium. 

IRC workers must: 

1. Ensure wherever possible that when working with individual children, another adult is present. 

2. Ensure that images taken of children (e.g. photographs and videos) are accurate and respect children’s privacy and dignity, following IRC’s communications guidelines. Children must be adequately clothed in images. Sexually suggestive poses are prohibited. 

3. Obtain informed consent from children and their caregivers before taking photographs of them, except under exceptional circumstances where this may not be possible or may not be in the best interest of the child. When possible and appropriate, this consent should be in writing and children and caregivers should be informed of how the images will be used. 

4. Restrict use of images of child beneficiaries to professional, respectful, awareness raising, fundraising, publicity, and programmatic purposes. 

5. Ensure that any image or recorded case history of a child does not place him/her at risk or render him/her vulnerable to any form of abuse. 

6. Respect principles of confidentiality, abide by data protection protocol, and only share children’s personal information on a need-to-know basis. 

7. Make all effort to minimize risk of harm to child beneficiaries. 

8. Immediately report suspicion or allegations of child abuse or exploitation or policy non-compliance in accordance with the IRC’s Global Reporting Guidelines.