Research report Rapid Appraisal of Vulnerabilities, Resilience, Coping Mechanisms and Service Delivery Gaps for Children In Hebron Governorate, State of Palestine November 2019 Research report Rapid Appraisal of Vulnerabilities, Resilience, Coping Mechanisms and Service Delivery Gaps for Children In Hebron Governorate, State of Palestine UNICEF-SoP/2018/Ahed Izhiman November 2019 Disclaimer This is a product of professional research and represents the opinions of the authors. It is not meant to represent the position or opinions of the Child Protection AoR or its Members, nor the official position of any staff members. Executive Summary The Child Protection Area of Responsibility (AoR) commissioned a rapid appraisal to better understand the different protection risks and vulnerabilities experienced by boys, girls and women, impact on realizing their rights, how these vulnerabilities can be reduced, and the coping and resilience mechanisms of children and families in Hebron. The appraisal aimed to identify available protective factors, interventions, services and responses currently offered and to provide some knowledge of where the main information and child protection gaps are, and to develop a coherent set of priorities for strengthening the current responses and identify programmatic areas of priority. The findings are to be used to inform the development of an action plan for a coordinated response to the main protection gaps. The study was conducted between April 2018 and April 2019 and focused on four areas in Hebron governorate that have experienced high levels of conflict with settlers and Israeli Security Forces (ISF) and high levels of vulnerability, namely: Hebron H2, Arroub refugee camp, Beit Ummar and Masafer Yatta (in South Hebron hills). Qualitative data collection methods were used to gather information. Information was collected from 158 children, 64 caregivers/parents and 61 key informants from different sectors including Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, humanitarian organisations and the Palestinian and Israeli authorities. Risk and protective factors In Hebron governorate incidences of children arrested and detained by Israeli Security Forces (ISF) appear high. For these children it is possible that the impact of their arrest and detention may be traumatic, and the perception that the arrest is unjust exposing children to further risks. The study identified key drivers/risk factors and protective factors for children in conflict with settlers and ISF. Risk factors include ISF practices, especially when children live close to a settlement or military structures; the wish for retaliation/ revenge in response to provocation, perceived abuse and humiliation by the ISF and settlers, media and social media, and peer pressure. Contributing factors which put the children more at risk than others included having to pass through hot spot areas on the way to and from school; schools not providing a protective or supportive environment; difficult domestic backgrounds; the lack of safe places to play; and sex and age of the child with adolescent boys aged 14 – 17 years being the most vulnerable to being in conflict with ISF. Preventive factors identified included the presence of protective parents in the children lives, protective presence and protective presence around schools. Children’s wish to avoid injury or arrest, access to safe playgrounds and extra- curricular activities and community promotion of non-violence are also preventive factors. - i - Experiences and needs of children who have been injured, arrested and detained The ill treatment of children during their arrest and detention was mentioned in each of the 6 in-depth interviews with former detainees and their families as well as CBOs. The main impacts of detention on children are psychological and educational: i) upon release, children tend to be angry, hopeless, frustrated and isolate themselves. They don’t trust anyone anymore. Changes in relationships with family members and particularly fathers were often mentioned; ii) former child detainees encounter many difficulties with education such as catching up on missed classes, accepting the need to repeat a class and lose an academic year, and lack of support from education staff. It is perceived that child ex-detainees which receive a sentence with jail time, a fine and/or conditional release, have limited prospects for the future. Physical consequences for detained children were cited with released children reportedly ill when returning home due to poor treatment in detention. Current responses to children directly and indirectly impacted by conflict with settlers and the ISF, services and gaps In all areas, the most commonly available services are human rights case documentation and access to recreational services. There is limited access to educational services or vocational training, and child protection services to provide case management and mental health support is the least common. It was beyond the scope of this study to collect information on the efficiency and reach of services provided, but discussions with service providers suggest that the reach of many services is very limited. The main services gaps and challenges identified are on several levels. First on the services providers working processes, there is a poor coordination amongst them and a lack of community-based contextualized responses and an insufficiency of the children’s safeguarding measures in CBOs providing services to children. Finally, we note an uncoordinated approach to services for children arrested, detained and released. Service provision gaps relate to the lack of capacity of MoSD to provide systematic child protection case management services; schools who are not consistently serving as places of safety and protection; the limited availability of remedial education and vocational training for child ex-detainees; and the lack of access to legal services during detention. Finally, there is a limited support for children’s caregivers and a lack of awareness of the impacts of long-term exposure to trauma and evidence-based responses. - ii - Recommendations 1. Design a common and/or complementary advocacy strategy to advocate for realization of children’s rights from duty-bearers. 2. Target adolescent boys (12 – 17 years) in “hot spot” areas of Hebron governorate with protective and preventive programmes. This can include design and maintenance of safe recreational spaces for children and safe spaces especially targeting adolescents, and ensure structured activities are in place. 3. Strengthen parents’ capacity to provide a protective presence for their children, and provide caregiver support especially to those with children in contact with ISF; 4. Support schools to serve as places of safety and protection for children. 5. Support to ensure ongoing protective presence around schools (see UN Hebron Strategy). 6. Strengthen the existing national case management system, including referral pathways, to systematically screen and respond to children affected by violence and arrests and detention, who require sustained interventions and support provided by multiple actors. 7. Ensure ex-detainee children, as well as those briefly detained, access child protection and MHPSS services including targeted PSS interventions, individual therapeutic counseling, and enrolment of child who has been in long-term detention or served a prison sentence in a structured reintegration/ rehabilitation programmes. 8. Provide awareness raising sessions on children’s rights when in detention. 9. Encourage greater engagement of service providers with communities to build trust. 10. Develop a centralised database on children injured, arrested and detained in Hebron governorate. This will be used to inform a multi-sectoral approach involving humanitarian actors and protection clusters to monitor, share, report and act on new protection concerns for children. - iii - UNICEF-SoP/2019/Noorani - iv - Table of Contents Acknowledgements 9 Acronyms 10 1 Introduction 11 2 Rapid appraisal methodology 13 3 Data on children injured, arrested or detained in Hebron Governorate 15 4 Risk and protective factors 16 4 1 Key drivers/risk factors 17 4 2 Key protective factors 25 5 Needs of children injured, arrested and detained 29 6 Current responses and service gaps 31 6 1 Geographic spread and range of services 31 6 2 Service gaps and challenges 32 7 Conclusions and Recommendations 36 Annex A: Additional Information on Data Collected 42 Annex B: Actor Mapping for Hebron Governorate Rapid Appraisal Study Areas 45 Endnotes 56 List of Boxes Box 1: Impact of the Occupation on Schools and Education 21 Box 2: Impact of exposure to settler and ISF violence on children 24 Box 3: Protective presence 26 Box 4: The case of Tuba school children escorted to school by ISF 27 Box 5: MoSD Index of Networking and Referrals 32 Box 6: Community Based Child protection Mechanisms (CBCPM) 40 Box 7: Comment on the development of the proposed Action Plan for Hebron governorate 41 - v - List of Figures Figure 1 : Source 2018 CAAC database, UNICEF .....................................................................15 Figure 1: Type and number of services for children in contact and conflict with settlers and ISF .............................................................................................31 List of Tables Table 1 Overview of Hebron Governorate and Study Areas ....................................................12 Table 2: Summary of Drivers/Risk Factors and Protective