What Coram International does

Coram International has a team of highly experienced lawyers who specialise in child rights, international law and human rights. The team is headed by Professor Carolyn Hamilton, the director of Coram International, who herself is an internationally recognised legal consultant with over 30 years’ experience in child rights and juvenile justice.

Over the past 18 years, Coram International has developed an in-depth knowledge of international child rights standards, national juvenile justice and child protection systems, child protection and juvenile policies and laws, programming and budgets at both central and local government levels.

We are unique in providing technical legal consultants who have extensive legislative drafting experience as well as related explanatory guidance, statements of practice and working protocols to operationalise these laws. Our team are also highly skilled in drafting policies and strategies and are aware of the necessity to draft such strategies within their broader political, legal and social contexts ensuring coherency between all levels and stakeholders.

Legal and policy situation analysis

Coram International’s team members often engage in legal and policy situation analyses. The team members bring their extensive experience and skills together to develop assessment methodologies to analyse the laws and policies themselves, and their application in practice.

Reform of law and legal systems

The Coram International team has considerable experience of engaging in legal and policy reform across a wide range of topics, including child rights, child protection, child justice, probation, policing, social work, child trafficking, mediation and the judiciary. We are adept at and experienced in producing draft Laws, regulations and other secondary legislation, working protocols, Standard Operating Procedures and numerous other documents and at providing partners with the supporting information and evidence to help advocate for proposed reforms.

Legal Aid services

Coram Children’s Legal Centre, which hosts Coram International, is one of the leading providers of Children’s Legal Aid in the UK. Based on this experience and building on international experience, Coram International has helped to establish Legal Aid Projects in several countries worldwide, including Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Tajikistan and Tanzania.

Coram International has a team of dedicated socio-legal researchers who are experts in conducting qualitative and quantitative social research. Many of our projects begin by conducting both in-country and desk based research, analysing the current situation, systems, laws, policies and practices. Our research specifically includes situation analyses, gap analyses, analysing trends, identifying barriers and bottlenecks.

Our research is grounded in a human rights based approach in line with international standards including the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and its Protocols, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The methodological approach our consultancy team takes is unique to each project and location in order to best collect reliable and robust data. Please see our other pages for:

• Research
• Where we work

At Coram International, we are highly skilled in designing and delivering targeted, relevant training and capacity building for a range of professionals and practitioners around the globe. Over the past 18 years, our consultants have provided training centred on child protection and child justice issues.

Much of our training has focused on the issues surrounding children who have come into contact with the justice system, whether they are victims, perpetrators or witnesses of crimes. Our qualified team has trained numerous key professionals within the justice sector including:

• Judges
• Prison Officers
• Social Workers
• Health Workers
• Government Officials
• Lawyers
• and Law Enforcement Officers

Our trainings aim to raise their awareness of national and international laws, children’s rights and standards of good practice. We aim to avoid categorisation of children into victim, perpetrator or witness, but rather focus their coming into contact with the law. By raising awareness and combating pre-conceived ideas we aim to strengthen their capacity to work effectively with children.

At Coram International, we also aim to provide long-term solutions by designing and conducting training of trainers, providing them with the necessary skills to teach others and disseminate training further.

Specialised professional training

Our training development team is skilled at developing profession-specific capacity building materials for, among others, police, prosecutors, judges, social workers, prison officers, NGO workers and others. When developing capacity building materials, the team focuses on accessibility and sustainability: making the messages and learning long-lasting and practical, while ensuring that the materials can be used, reviewed and returned to by participants after the training is complete.

Multi-agency child rights training

In addition to our sector-specific training, we often develop multi-agency training materials in order to bring groups together to share experiences and learn from each other. The training approach for multi-agency teams is often highly skills and experienced focused, in order to facilitate cross-learning, with the inclusion of relevant knowledge as appropriate to ensure that all attendees leave with a shared understanding of child rights, child protection, or child justice and have the skills to implement principles and policies in practice.

The Coram International team has extensive experience conducting monitoring and evaluations as a part of larger projects we are devising and delivering. We also provide our services as independent monitoring and evaluation consultants to external projects and programmes.

Since Coram International’s inception, we have built our experience in evaluating the effectiveness of projects, and their compliance with international standards and best practices. Our team keeps up-to-date with changing international conventions, protocols, laws and regulations, ensuring all the projects we advise on are in compliance with all necessary standards.

From the qualitative and quantitative research we conduct, our team analyse the findings and present these in a range of accessible formats. Based on the data we then provide concrete recommendations and devise strategy plans for our clients.

Independent evaluations

Coram International is adept at designing and delivering evaluations of programmes and projects to a range of scales, including small-scale evaluations of single-site projects, and wider evaluations of country, regional or even global programming and activities. For further information, please see our Where we work page.

M&E frameworks

As part of our reform projects, or on a standalone basis, we often develop Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks for partners to use to assess outputs, outcomes and impact. We also deliver capacity building to support implementation of these frameworks.

Child Rights Monitoring Systems

Coram International has experience in assessing and producing recommendations for the reform of Child Rights Monitoring systems, particularly in Vietnam, where the team supported UNICEF Vietnam in an assessment of, and subsequent capacity building in relation to, Child Rights Monitoring.

Our team at Coram International are skilled in identifying a specific problem, an area where services are insufficient, or an area that would benefit from further in-depth research. Combined with our expertise in project life-cycle management we are also able to design and implement our own unique targeted projects.

Coram International has previously secured funding to address a number of different issues within our area of expertise including advocating for, and achieving, legislative and system reform. We have established pilot projects in a number of countries in order to demonstrate to Governments how a particular system would work in practise.

Coram International has also created independent NGOs in two countries which serve their local communities in the area of child rights law, and we continue to work with these NGOs to build their capacities further.

Problem identification

During our work across the globe, we often identify specific problems or opportunities for change either through our research, during the course of discussions with in-country partners, or as a result of other project activities. Where this happens, we are adept at developing proposals and recommendations for action to address the problems we have identified.

Design and implementation

Based on problems researchers or other consultants have identified, our project development team will work together, drawing lessons from previous projects and making sure to engage with the children and communities in question to develop and design programmes for change. We are skilled at developing relationships at all levels that facilitate project development and implementation, and at seeking funding to do so.

Pilot projects

At Coram International, we have developed several pilot projects, which we have gone on to replicate within and across a variety of regional contexts. For example, we developed a ‘diversion’ pilot project in association with UNICEF Tajikistan that has since been replicated across the CEE/CIS and has been adapted for use in Tanzania and Nigeria.

Coram International designs and delivers study tours for numerous audiences including policy makers, practitioners and government delegations from around the world.

These study tours are aimed at strengthening and sharing knowledge bases by gaining exposure to the workings of the UK system. The tours are designed to enhance the capacity of the stakeholders and systems in question, raising awareness for international standards adherence and best practices.

Coram International has organised previous tours on a number of topics including child protection, child justice, primary health care, and sexual and reproductive health.

Qualitative research methods are valued for their interpretative and explanatory potential. Qualitative research can be used to explore and understand complex human behaviours, their causes, contexts and impacts. This evidence is necessary for designing and targeting interventions to achieve change. They provide the best opportunity for exploring how and why particular strategies or approaches may or may not work in any given context.

Our approach

Our team has decades of experience conducting in-depth qualitative research studies. Our study designs seek to combine insights provided by traditional qualitative research methods, such as semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions, with the more in-depth contextual insights that can be gathered from more innovative forms of participatory research, such as participant learning in action techniques.

Quantitative research can provide a comprehensive and descriptive profile of ‘what’ is happening and ‘where’. Quantitative methods generate data that is comparable across different populations, and over time. This data can be used to make generalisation from a research sample to a broader population, and to test particular theories and hypotheses.

Quantitative data is particularly valued in its potential to provide objective and measurable information concerning the impacts of programme interventions.

Indexes for Programming

Our team has particular expertise in designing ‘indexes’ for hard-to-measure variables. For example, we recently worked with Plan International to develop two quantifiable indexes that can be used for evaluating programming on child marriage cross-culturally. The first is designed to rank research subjects on a quantifiable ‘Child Marriage Acceptability Scale’. The second index scores communities according to the presence of structural conditions associated with the practice of child marriage.

Systematic review is a method used to gather and synthesise a large body of evidence to answer a specific research question. Systematic reviews are a cost-effective means of using existing information to gather robust evidence on an issue of interest and concern. They enable the collection of comprehensive and objective information on a given topic, through a methodology that is transparent, replicable, and avoids individual research bias.

Our experience

Our team has experience designing and conducting systematic literature reviews. We have recently completed two systematic literature reviews for UNICEF in Indonesia and Cambodia, exploring the underlying determinants of violence against children.

Both studies included secondary statistical analysis of several large datasets (DHS, VACS, GSHS, MICS, and P4P surveys) containing relevant indicators related to violence against children. The studies used regression models, predicted probabilities and interaction models to uncover various risk and protective factors associated with violence against children.

Coram International is staffed by a team of socio-legal researchers and trained, qualified lawyers who regularly engage in detailed legal research and reform activities. One of our core activities is the analysis and assessment of legislation, policy and practice in light of international standards and best practice, from which we develop a gap analysis and recommendations for reform, legislative amendment, the development of primary or secondary legislation and policy reform, with a view to influencing practice on the ground.

Analytical frameworks

At Coram International, the team has comprehensive and practical knowledge of the legal and policy framework surrounding child right issues, including child protection, justice for children, children and armed conflict, sexual and reproductive health, violence against children, discrimination, and migration.

We approach our legal and policy research work by crafting a detailed analytical framework from the international and regional instruments that are relevant to our research objectives, and by supplementing this with our strong understanding of best practices. We then engage in a thorough analysis against this framework, using our experience and awareness of the application of laws and policy in practice, as well as findings from any socio-legal research that we have conducted in parallel to the legislative review, to make clear recommendations to fill gaps and improve the protection and promotion of children’s rights.

An effective national child protection system brings together all key stakeholders involved in child protection across different sectors, it focuses on improving mechanisms and communication between local, provincial and national level, and it utilises laws and policies that protect children from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Coram International provides consultancy on designing, improving and implementing child protection systems at local and national level.

System Mapping and Analysis

Coram International specialises in conducting child protection systems mappings and analysis to national governments as well as to specific organisations that have child protection systems in place. The purpose of these mappings and assessments is to better understand what laws, structures and services are achieving their goals in providing child protection, and which ones are not. This is the first step in building or strengthening a national child protection system.

By conducting such assessments, our team of consultants is able to develop context appropriate system frameworks that include non-formal systems such as traditional authorities and community or religious groups. Our experts can provide national, regional and local level analyses of how formal and informal child protection systems are currently working, and provide recommendations on new services and processes of reform.

System reform and model child protection system development

At Coram International, our team of lawyers and socio-legal researchers is also able to support the second phase of building or strengthening of child protection systems, the system reforms. Either after conducting our own mapping and analysis, or by providing external expertise and oversight, our team provides recommendations for designing a newly integrated child protection model, ensuring that the issues with the previous systems are addressed. This can include ensuring the system adheres to international legislation, and that the system is newly adapted to incorporate cultural and context specific issues.

We ensure that our reform recommendations incorporate short and long-term actions, as well as providing guidance on amending any existing legislation to the reforms proposed. Our consultants constantly liaise with stakeholders to discuss and determine priorities, resources and next steps during the reform process.

A global issue, violence can affect children in both poor and developed countries, regardless of race, social class, gender or religion. Violence against children is broadly accepted as taking both physical and non-physical forms including neglect, maltreatment, exploitation and sexual abuse. From the various definitions given by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the World Health Organisation, four key sub-categories of violence against children emerge:

• Physical violence and abuse
• Mental & emotional violence and abuse
• Sexual Violence, abuse and exploitation
• Neglect

A continuous issue that children across the worldwide contend with on a daily basis, Coram International prides itself on working at the cutting edge of social policies and legislation on promoting and protecting the rights of children against any forms of harm.

Legislation on violence against children

The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the most significant provisions in relation to children’s rights and violence. The framework sets out legal principles that impose obligations on state parties in preventing and responding to violence against children.

Other international instruments that afford children protection from violence include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

It is the obligation of States to ensure children’s right to feel safe and protected from all kinds of violence and abuse. At Coram International, our team of experts is highly skilled in designing, assessing and evaluating national legislation, action plans and strategies. Our consultants have conducted gap analyses in numerous States worldwide, supporting governments in ensuring that national policies adhere to international obligations, and that the policies are also translated into practice on the ground.

Attitudes towards violence

Violence against children is generated in a multitude of settings and contexts, yet the roots of this violence are fundamentally the same: discrimination, cultural beliefs, social norms, lack of education and awareness. To prevent violence occurring, it is essential that all stakeholders in child protection understand the root causes, and challenge these to help bring about sustainable long-term change.

At Coram International, we support this by conducting research on the root causes of violence within each individual context, and providing technical advice and assistance in how best to combat the issue.

Violence in education and other institutional settings

Violence and education now have well documented links, with many reports and studies detailing the prevalence of violence on school property, on the way to or from school or school-sponsored events, or during a school-sponsored event. Violence in education covers both teacher-student and student-to-student violence. The types of violence exhibited and reported include corporal punishment, bullying, sexual and gender-based violence, physical and psychological punishment, fighting, physical assault and gang violence.

Coram International has conducted a number of projects both researching the causes of violence against children in schools and other institutional settings, and providing detailed recommendations for addressing such violence and for creating safer and more gender-aware learning environments for children. We design unique methodologies specific to each context, analysing data on prevalence, frequency and intensity of such violence, as well as reviewing and mapping existing systems, procedures and processes. Our consultants then identify linkages, recognise challenges, opportunities and good practices, and then recommend strategies for strengthening child protection in schools and other institutional settings. Always dedicated to long-term improvement, we also design M&E frameworks capable of monitoring progress and assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions.

Sexual violence

Sexual abuse is defined as forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. This may include, but is not limited to, physical context, unwanted sexual touching, grooming a child in preparation for abuse and rape. The issue of sexual violence is closely linked to other potential risk factors for children including exploitation, trafficking, slavery and prostitution.

Coram International has a strong history in supporting children who are victims of sexual violence. In 2009 Coram International started a Girls’ Support Service in Tajikistan, aimed at girls aged between 10 and 18 who have been, or are at risk of being sexually abused, trafficked or exploited. Our team have previously assessed various services dedicated to sexual violence and health including Vulnerable Persons Units, sexual health services and community-based coping strategies.

Domestic violence

Child domestic violence is the abuse of a child or young person through repetitive assaultive and coercive behaviours including physical, sexual and psychological attacks within an intimate or family relationship. Examples of physical abuse including slapping, beating with fists or an object, sexual abuse includes forced or coerced sex, and psychological abuse includes isolation from others, verbal aggression and threats of violence.

As with other forms of violence, our consultants have extensive previous experience assessing reasons behind domestic violence between contexts, as well as household, community, regional and national level intervention programmes to protect children from harm.

One of the most prevalent manners in which children and young people’s rights are violated, harmful traditional practices are forms of violence which are accepted as part of the cultural practice in specific countries and contexts. At Coram International we work to eradicate these harmful practices through conducting research into the root causes, implementing transformative programmes of change, and consulting on local and national legislation regarding each individual practice.

Early child marriage

Child marriage is an issue that is pervasive still across many countries due to economic, social and cultural norms. The reasons behind these marriages are varied, often parents arrange the marriage unbeknownst to the child and many are arranged for economic purposes as it can mean one less person to feed. However in an attempt to escape poverty, many are only perpetuating poverty. Married girls more often than not leave school, so they then lack the skills to lift their families out of poverty.

As well as poverty and education, child marriage is also heavily linked with ill health, pregnancy rates, domestic violence and sexual abuse. Although many countries have legislation prohibiting child marriage, these laws are often not enforced or provide exceptions that allow for traditional laws or parental consent.

Female genital mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a practice most often carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play central roles in communities. It is a violation of the human rights of girls and women, and reflects deep-rooted gender inequality and female discrimination. The reasons behind why FGM is performed vary between contexts. However, its existence as a social convention and a way of ensuring premarital virginity and female modesty are often cited as common reasons.

The impacts of FGM can be long-lasting, life-threatening and psychologically devastating. The risk of infection or death due to the process is now well documented, with many girls dying during or after the process due to haemorrhaging. Painful and debilitating infections are often contracted due to the use of implements such as scissors or razor blades in non-sterile settings. Infertility and the increased chance of complications during childbirth are two long-term impacts, along with the psychological trauma that women who have to undergo FGM are subjected to both at the time and during later life.

At Coram International, we work tirelessly to campaign for the total eradication of FGM, a practice which we view as pivotal in the campaign for genuine gender equality.

Corporal punishment

Defined by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain, corporal punishment is still prevalent in numerous countries worldwide. An issue many children face on a daily basis, corporal punishment breaches their human rights to respect for dignity and physical integrity. The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states that have ratified it to prohibit corporal punishment. Although the number of countries to implement these legal changes increases yearly, many are still in the early stages of adapting their approach to corporal punishment.

At the local level, the issue of corporal punishment must also be recognised as there is often a disconnect between the national level laws and policies, and the reality on the ground for many children. In many states it is ingrained within the social dynamics of communities, and in particular is still a favoured technique of behaviour management both within the home and in schools.

At Coram International, we work with a number of different organisations to help combat the use of corporal punishment as a tool to discipline children. Our consultants are skilled in conducting in-depth qualitative research as well as assessing national level legal practice on corporal punishment. We also provide training to teachers, community organisations and other bodies in working towards eradicating corporal punishment.

Scarification

A harmful practice steeped in tradition, scarification is the custom of making superficial incisions on one’s skin. This is normally done using a knife, stone, or piece of glass and the process came about as a method of symbolizing identity, whether it is representing a connection to a spiritual or tribal group, demonstrating a particular status or position within a community, or distinguishing a child’s passage into adulthood.

As well as the cultural implications and the fact that the majority of children who undergo scarification are not given a choice on whether to undertake the process or not, there can also be severe medical implications. Group scarification, involving using shared instruments, has serious implications for the transmission of HIV. Although an area that does not receive as much attention as other practices, scarification is an issue that our consultants engage with in terms of research and risk awareness raising.

Honour killing

A practice that involves the murder of a person, normally at the hands of their family or local community members, honour killings happen due to the belief that the person accused has tarnished the family honour or undermined the authority of men. Women are the chief victims of honour killings and the perceived or actual behaviours that lead to this practice include illicit relationships, refusal to accept a forced marriage, loss of virginity or bringing shame on the family by being raped.

A cultural and often religious practice that is still extremely prevalent in a number of countries, many killers are often celebrated in their communities as they are perceived as having defended the honour of their family name. Although there is the availability of enforcing legal measures now to punish these acts, most killers go unpunished. At Coram, we are working to change the tide in the application of legislation to prosecute those guilty of honour killings, as well as working with organisations and local women to promote their right to life.

Sexual and reproductive health can be physical, mental and social in its manifestation, ensuring it is fundamental to the general well-being of young people, women and men. In order to maintain one’s sexual and reproductive health, people need access to accurate information, acceptable facilities and contraception of their choice.

When these health needs are not met it has a cascading impact on peoples’ families and future generations, as well as often forcing women to bear responsibility of nurturing children they have given birth to, exacerbating poverty and gender inequality. Everyone has the right to make their own decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health and so Coram International works with partner organisations worldwide towards the goal of universal access to health rights.

Sexual and reproductive health issues

There are a multitude of issues that stem from the denial of sexual and reproductive health rights, including unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) including HIV infections, gender-based violence, unsafe abortions and maternal death. Women suffer disproportionately, with an estimated 300,000 women dying annually during pregnancy or childbirth, primarily from preventable causes.

However it is not only women who face these issues, as nearly 8 million children under the age of five die each year, an indicator that is strongly linked to maternal health and access to post-natal health care. Young people are also disproportionately affected by HIV, and millions of adolescent girls every year face unintended pregnancies. Young people also often find themselves facing barriers to clear, accurate and accessible healthcare information.

Barriers to Accessing Services

There are multiple barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, many of which are heavily influenced by the country context. These include:

• Economic and structural factors Poverty is potentially the greatest barrier to universal access to SRH services. The implementation of fees for utilising health services, and the lack of human resources and technical expertise to provide universal access are both core examples of the economic and structural barriers. Obtaining the necessary amount of drug and contraceptive supplies, and their subsequent distribution across urban and rural areas, is also a continuous issue for many countries worldwide.
• Gender roles Gender norms and the subsequent power that men wield can prove highly restrictive in allowing women access to SRH services. Gender norms affect unmarried women as well, with many contexts denying them access to contraceptives. Men are also affected by pervasive gender norms, with many examples of men considering seeking sexual health information or care as weak or embarrassing.
• Religious conservatism Religious norms play an influential role in distancing young people in particular to SRH access. Not only can religious conservatism be intertwined with education in teaching young people singular approaches to SRH, but these attitudes can be persuasive at all levels, influencing government policies and traditional values. Policy and funding decisions that reflect conservative religious ideas often restricts progress towards achieving access to SRH services.
• Social taboos Social and cultural norms, and the threat of stigmatisation, often affects people accessing advice, contraceptives and medical attention. Intercourse before marriage is seen as unacceptable in many countries, and many don’t seek STI treatment for fear of being seen as sexually active, sick or infected. Social taboos surrounding people sexuality also restricts healthy and helpful discussions about SRH issues.
• Policy context Many countries fail to differ between understanding ‘sexual and reproductive health’ as different from ‘reproductive health’. Failing to address much broader personal, relationship and social contexts that form part of promoting sexual health, many policies and subsequent services fail to address anything but pregnancy. Confused policies also result in inconsistent and ineffective laws, for example when looking at the legal age of sexual consent in comparison to the permitted age for using and accessing services and contraception.
• Geographic inaccessibility Rural areas often mean very poor transport infrastructure, preventing people’s access to services, as well as the ability to deliver different types of contraception and medical supplies. Isolated communities have limited or no access to formal SRH services, many relying on infrequent and haphazard visits from charitable organisations.
• Legislation It is often the case that legislation restricts the access to SRH services, and often this is through a protectionist approach that looks to protect young people specifically from harm that may derive from sexual activity or exploitation. There are both direct and indirect legal barriers to SRH access. Direct legal barriers are laws that explicitly restrict the delivery of, or access to, services, whilst indirect legal barriers are laws that don’t directly impose restrictions on SRH, but nonetheless may function in this way in a particular context. Coram specialises in assessing the legal barriers to sexual and reproductive health rights and providing support in designing and implementing transformative legislation.

Empowerment

Coram International works at the forefront of sexual and reproductive health rights, specifically working with partner organisations to promote women’s empowerment as an essential factor in improving SRH.  Our team of consultants are experienced in designing programmes that enable women to develop their own confidence and capabilities, to build stronger and more equal relationships with balanced power dynamics, and to work towards the removal of societal barriers that constrain and influence their ability to act.

Over the past two decades, the issue of children in armed conflict has attracted growing attention and importance on the international stage. Numerous countries have suffered from conflict and civil wars including Syria, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Civilians are often caught up in the conflict as victims or participants, and as internal conflicts grow the distinction is sometimes hard to draw.

With civilian populations often targeted by military campaigning, it is inevitable that civilian casualties are high, the largest proportion of non-combatant victims being women and children. The impact of warfare on children is huge. Not only are children perishing in conflicts, but conflicts also engulf every aspect of a child’s life. Children are made orphans; they may be seriously injured, left with grave psychological trauma, or internally or externally displaced.

Terrorism and extremism, although not a new phenomenon, has acquired new dimensions in the twenty-first century. Children are increasingly affected and victimised by terrorism and extremism, but they have also been shown in recent years to be increasingly engaged in terrorist related activity through recruitment and radicalisation. The rights of children affected by terrorism and counter-terrorism are an emerging area, which up until now has been largely overlooked.

A continuously evolving child rights arena, Coram International is at the forefront of policy and research dedicated towards the protection of children who find themselves in scenarios involving armed conflict or terrorism.

Child rights in armed conflict

Grave violations of children’s rights are often committed during periods of armed conflict, with children subjected to the violence of war. These conflicts often cut off access to healthcare and other vital services that support the provision of basic human rights. Attending school is often disrupted and families are often split up in devastating fashion by death, displacement or recruitment. Child abduction and sexual violence are rife, and it is often the case that there is complete denial of humanitarian access and relief.

Coram International works to ensure children’s rights are enshrined and protected within each country during times of armed conflict. Our team of lawyers work on the implementation of UN treaties and conventions such as the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Child protection in armed conflict

Child protection systems during times of armed conflict are unsurprisingly weak or non-existent. Although international instruments such as the Convention on the Rights and the optional protocols attracted fast rates of ratification, implementation of their provisions and the adaptation of protection systems have been slow due to weak government structures. Agencies have also often been slow to assess the needs of children in complex situations, resulting in assistance being inappropriate or delayed. At the local level, traditional, community-based protective structures are also seriously weakened during times of armed conflict until they are ultimately destroyed.

Our team of experts help support organisations in assessing the protection needs of children, as well as evaluating government and NGO child protection programmes at the organisational, community, district and national levels.

Justice in post-conflict states

For a long period, crimes against children went largely unpunished and perpetrators were not held accountable. Over the past 20 years, however, there has been a clear change amongst the international community towards accountability for international crimes committed against children during times of armed conflict. Access to justice for children can be achieved through judicial, non-judicial and traditional justice mechanisms.

Our team of legal experts are proficient in assessing the legal instruments governing armed conflict in relation to child perpetrators and victims and their implementation at international and national level.

Children involved in armed conflict, terrorism and extremism

Due to the evolution of terrorism during the twenty-first century, including issues such as online radicalisation, children are becoming further engaged by terrorist organisations across the globe. De-radicalisation programmes are scarce, and the ones that do exist have limited outreach and have the inability to provide interventions where children need it most. Coram International is currently working with partner organisations to conduct further research and evaluation in this emerging area that will only grow in importance over the coming years.

The line between child combatants in armed conflict and children engaged in terrorist related activity is very thin, yet the approach taken to both these groups is radically different from a justice perspective. There is currently very little discussion on the use of community based restorative justice programmes for children convicted of terrorist offences, both nationally and internationally, even though it is increasingly apparent that pursuing criminal prosecution alone is unlikely to address issues of radicalisation.

Coram International works towards the adaptation of international and national legislation to combat the growing risk of extremism and radicalisation, as well as providing research and systems expertise in designing, assessing and evaluating counter radicalisation programmes.

Violent extremism and counter radicalisation

The high expectations in enabling access to justice in post-conflict scenarios mean many systems and mechanisms fall short of the ideal. Coram International works to support governments and organisations in channelling their resources to ensure that children’s access to justice is maximised.

Our team is skilled not only in assessing judicial forms of justice, but also providing expertise on non-judicial forms which allow a wider number of children to be heard. We also advocate for the acknowledgement, and programme design, of justice processes that account for the loss of education, family and childhood, as well as focused on issues such as recruitment and abduction

Children become associated with armed forces and groups for a variety of reasons. Forced recruitment is widely recognised as a pivotal factor where many are abducted, drugged and beaten into submission. There are however numerous other push and pull factors including poverty, a sense of identity, lack of opportunities and options to name a few. Seeing family members raped or killed and their community attacked also acts as a powerful motivating force. Due to this cycle of violence, children often become both victims and perpetrators.

Coram International works hard to ensure that the prosecution of children should always be regarded as a last resort, and engages actors continuously to ensure they are aware of the influential context within which these children find themselves when engaging with armed groups. Rehabilitation and reintegration into society are key principles that Coram International advocates for, supporting the Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that any solution must take into account “the child’s reassuming of a constructive role in society”.

Youth and adolescence is a fluid category and definitions vary greatly across countries and between differing cultures. Today’s generation of young people is the largest ever, with the majority found in developing countries, a high percentage of which live below the poverty line. Coram International recognises that it is crucial to target this population, not only to promote and engage with the unique issues they face, but also to enable broader and significant social change, political transformation and economic returns over a longer period of time.

Youth development, policies and legislation

Policies in the field of youth development are extremely diverse, engaging with numerous issues. Many of these are interconnected and have been found to influence each other; social exclusion, discrimination, work and livelihoods and civic engagement are some examples of this. Youth are at a stage in their life when they are still developing their beliefs, attitudes and personalities, which can be shaped by various measures. By investing in youth and constructing policies that support them in tackling their most prevalent issues, there is an opportunity to empower a generation.

The definition of youth in key policy and legal instruments significantly differs from country to country. Our team of consultants at Coram is experienced in researching context specific issues adolescents face, assessing and evaluating youth policies and legislation specific to that country, and providing structured, forward-thinking programmes of reform. Our legal and social research experts are also well versed in the implementation of high-level strategies such as the 2010 – 2018 EU Youth Strategy which promotes greater collaboration between youth policies and other policy areas such as education, employment, inclusion and health.

Youth justice systems

Although there is a comprehensive set of international youth justice laws, numerous States have distinct gaps between these and national laws and practices, resulting in the rights of youth not being fully protected within the domestic systems. The practical application of youth justice systems vary within each country and are highly dependent on numerous factors. This includes the integration of, and communication between, the stakeholders involved, collaboration with localised traditional and informal structures, and how streamlined the reporting processes are.

Numerous States have been criticised for failings in upholding procedural guarantees, such as fair trial rights, and failure to protect young people from maltreatment, abuse and murder. Coram International works to ensure that national youth justice systems are in compliance with international human rights instruments.

Youth offending

Our consultants endeavour to design and implement child friendly procedures within these domestic systems, promoting the idea of rehabilitation over punishment. Approaches worldwide to youth offending remain fragmented. International youth justice standards promote rehabilitation over punishment, yet many states retain an overwhelmingly punitive response to youth offending. Synonymous with anti-social behaviour, adolescents and youth have been on the receiving end of ‘tough’ measures by many States who want to be perceived as cracking down on criminal behaviour. However, in most countries statistics show anti-social youth behaviour is often less apparent than is claimed, and the attention it receives is often due to sensationalist media coverage.

The majority of young offenders commit non-violent, petty offences, even in countries where violent crime is rising. At Coram International, we believe rehabilitation and reintegration is key, adolescents and youth must be supported in transitioning back into society. We work with government and non-government organisations to create and implement innovative initiatives and thus adhere to international juvenile justice standards.

Coram International works continuously towards the achievement of universal gender equality, a state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender. Although the issue of gender is now mainstream in many countries across the world, genuine change has still proven difficult when translating gender equality policies and legislation into practice. Coram International works to better understand and change these ingrained social, cultural and political root causes.

Gender roles and power relations

Arguably the most powerful power relation, gender is still largely ignored as critical to understanding power dynamics. Coram International believes that gender plays huge role in power relations, and that by addressing it there is an opportunity to provide strategic approaches that are more politically smart and effective at all levels.

Women’s lack of political influence across numerous countries demonstrates the clear gender power divide that still exists. To be a woman in many countries is to be powerless, and so gender relations often are power relations. Not only this, but gender shapes institutions, how they are built and how they distribute power, and ultimately gender shapes our understanding of what power is. At Coram International, we have a number of gender experts who are skilled in research and addressing the conflict between gender and power, analysing the root causes and providing recommendations for reform moving forward.

Gender based violence

Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations worldwide, undermining the health, dignity and autonomy of the victims. At Coram International we work to promote awareness at the local level in countries affected, as well as designing innovative and personalised programmes that promote the right of women and girls to live free of violence.

In recent years Coram International has supported and designed programmes that not only empower women but also to educate men and change their ingrained perceptions regarding gender based violence.

Gender-aware schooling

At Coram International we believe that investment in gender-aware schooling for both boys and girls is one of the single most important and powerful techniques in self-advancement, and an essential short and long-term practice to determine national development regarding gender equality. Following on from many countries adopting policies and laws that are more gender sensitive, gender-aware school frameworks looks to initiate gender equality from the roots up by educating future generations. Coram International has experience designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating such gender-aware schooling programmes.

Youth perceptions of gender

In order to create genuine change and move towards universal gender equality, it is essential to understand existing local perceptions. Understanding the perceptions of youth is integral as they are not only directly affected, but shifting their perceptions also represents an opportunity to create longer-lasting societal change. It’s widely accepted that, to an extent, young people are less restricted and bound by the social norms, and so this is a particularly opportune moment to attempt a shift in their beliefs and perceptions.

Perceptions can be extremely dangerous as they can lead to the normalisation of human rights abuses, perpetuate gender inequality and restrict economic and social development. Previous research has revealed common perceptions to include the following:

• Women shouldn’t be able to refuse just because they don’t want to have sex
• It is an obligation for a wife to have sex with her husband even if she does not want to
• Violence against women means beating someone until blood starts running
• It is important for a man to exert his power and demonstrate he is the leader of the family.

At Coram International, we believe changing perceptions is a key component of battling gender inequality. Our team has extensive experience conducting research into better understanding context specific understanding of attitudes and perceptions, as well as designing informative programmes that challenge normative perceptions, targeting men, women and young people.

Governance is crucial piece to the measurement of the extent of child rights violations and understanding of the drivers behind the marginalisation of children and youth that leads to such violations. All sectors need a governance system in place, and those areas that lack governance can lead to flawed approaches and decision-making, minimal social or cultural understanding, and poor economic choices and illicit financial flows.

Coram International works to assess and reform governance systems in line with international child rights laws and best practices.

Governance analysis

Our team of experts are skilled in analysing current government or organisational processes across numerous relevant sectors including health and education. We are able to provide an overview of gaps in the system, ways of streamlining processes and recommendations on what to focus on in order to improve children’s rights and prospects in each location.

Issues that we have regularly found that relate to the violations of children’s rights include a lack of capacity or political will, insufficient budget allocations, staff with minimal or no training, and poor communication between different key stakeholders. As well as assessing current situations, we are also able to assess the implementation of national strategies, policies and plans of action focused on the rights of children and youth.

Governance reform

As laws and policies change over time, and new best practice methods are understood, governance must then in turn undergo reform. Whether it is in response to governance analysis or to new legislation implementation, our team are available to support the reform process from inception to delivery.

Coram International has cross-sectoral experience of governance reform, and can provide technical advice to government agencies and external organisations alike.

Children and counter-terrorism

Professor Carolyn Hamilton, Flavia Colonnese and Maurice Dunaiski

2016

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Prof Carolyn Hamilton was contracted by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) to conduct research on juvenile justice in the context of counter-terrorism. The overall objective of the research project was to shed light on the particular vulnerability of children and juveniles in the context of counter-terrorism legislation and policies. The recommendations provided aim to help governments integrate domestic and international juvenile justice and child protection standards into their counter-terrorism frameworks. The research report includes an overview of the international legislative framework pertaining to children and counter-terrorism, as well as case studies on two countries with different legal traditions and counter-terrorism approaches (England and Germany). The findings were presented to members of the UN Working Group on Criminal Justice Sector and Rule of Law of the Global Counterterrorism Forum in Malta in November 2015.

Casting light in the shadows: combating child trafficking and slavery in Vietnam

Coram International was awarded funding from the Home Office’s Child Trafficking Protection Fund (CTPF) for a 2.5 year project aiming to help end the trafficking of children within and from Vietnam. Partnering with UNICEF Vietnam and UNICEF UK, the project covered three streams of work:

• Comprehensive socio-legal research and the development of a series of profiles to understand how, why, where and when children are most at risk of trafficking and slavery
• Interagency workshops involving government agencies and civil society in Vietnam, bringing different groups together to identify and strengthen prevention, identification and response mechanisms to child trafficking and slavery
• Capacity building with government agencies and community workers to strengthen the work of those combatting child trafficking and slavery in Vietnam

The funding enabled the team and the partners, to acquire the much needed research-based evidence about the driving forces, patterns, trends and factors that put many children at risk from trafficking and slavery. The project aimed to strengthen multi-agency coordination, prevention and response for potential and actual victims through workshops and capacity building activities.

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