New: Child Victim Response Database
New: Child Victim Response Database
Millions of children are impacted by armed conflict worldwide. While international responses to armed conflict recognize the need for decisive action to end crimes against and affecting children, a justice gap persists when it comes to child victims. This reflects a gap in capacity when it comes to child-sensitive investigations. Lack of specialized knowledge and training in child interviewing is commonly cited as a problem hindering the effectiveness of investigations. Children continue to be underappreciated as sources of evidence in favour of other primary and secondary sources, such as parents and older siblings, and while there are often valid trauma-informed reasons for this practice, it may also reflect a lack of understanding or confidence in how to obtain best evidence from children. These problems are compounded when it comes to child victims of conflict-related sexual violence.
On World Children Day LAW and the Oak Foundation launch the first Child Victim Response Database, a tool that consolidates LAW’s review of national, regional, and international guidance on documenting and investigating crimes against children. This tool will support the creation of a community of practice of lawyers, investigators, and other practitioners that will be able to easily identify relevant resources to assist them in integrating a child sensitive, child competent and child rights approach in justice and accountability.
Discover the database here.