Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Age plays a critical role in a child’s migration, but how will gender mediate that experience? Which gender-specific vulnerabilities, needs, and opportunities influence the lives of girls and boys on the move? This report reviews the existing evidence base – official statistics and quantitative and qualitative studies from the community level to the global level – to shed light on these important questions. Examining the available information not only indicates where and how children on the move need targeted resources, support and protection, but also pinpoints areas needing further investigation. Available data and research demonstrate that gender plays a pivotal role from the time the decision to leave home is made, and continues to shape experiences and vulnerabilities throughout the child’s journey and integration process at the destination. COVID-19 has added another layer of complexity to the lives of children on the move, exacerbating pre-existing insecurities in some dimensions and introducing new ones. Girls in particular are feeling many of these effects acutely, such as gender-based violence.

This study aims to assess the prevalence and exacerbating factors of violence against women and children in Germany during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. It conducted a representative online survey with partnered women (18–65 years) between 22 April and 8 May 2020, when participants had been under lockdown for a month. It determined the prevalence of several forms of violence within the previous month using both direct elicitation and a list experiment. It also conducted a multivariable logistic regression to assess the impact of pandemic associated risk factors.

By August 9, 2021, Ethiopia had reported more than 284,000 COVID-19 cases and 4,426 deaths. Since COVID-19 was first reported in Ethiopia in March of 2021, the impacts of the pandemic, the measures taken to curb COVID-19, and additional political, economic, and environmental crises have severely impacted the population.
Women and girls bear different burdens in this crisis, and emergency responses often overlook the differences in impacts and needs for women, girls, men, and boys in humanitarian responses. To that end, this research— with funding from the EUTF (European Union Emergency Trust Fund) provides insight into the impact of COV1D-19 on women and girls in Ethiopia. The quantitative surveys covered adult women and girls over the age of 15. It also provides insights into the differences between refugees, Internally Displaced People (IDPs), refugees, and migrants. Qualitative from focus group discussions and key informant interviews also reflects opinions from men and boys.

This report presents the experiences, voices, challenges and opportunities of Venezuelan refugee and migrant girls and adolescent girls in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, from a feminist, intersectional and human rights perspective. The purpose of this report is to amplify adolescent girls' voices and make visible the risks to the protection of their rights, safety and integrity, as well as their experiences. The report highlights their main needs, opportunities, desires, projects and dreams, with the aim of contributing to the guarantee of their rights in the context of the humanitarian crisis confronting these three countries, as part 
of Plan International’s ‘Girls in Crisis’ global research series.

More than one year into the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic—with some countries seemingly on their way out of the crisis while others enter new waves—evidence of its impact is growing. COVID-19 is increasing short-term humanitarian needs and negatively affecting longer-term outcomes for marginalized populations and people in vulnerable situations, significantly setting back hard-won development gains, magnifying inequalities, and compounding risks. Among those worst affected are the more than 80 million people worldwide—approximately half of whom are women and girls—who have been forcibly displaced by drivers such as persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations.

This policy brief focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of vulnerable girls and young women in India, particularly in relation to the combined pressures of interrupted education, increased domestic work, and widespread stresses on household finances. It analyses the current and potential long-term impact on mental health and well-being, increasing domestic violence and risks of early marriage and parenthood.

In 2020, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) and Women Enabled International (WEI), alongside the U.N Partnership for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and eight local and regional organisations working to advance rights for persons with disabilities, partnered to undertake a global study of the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls with disabilities, particularly as related to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and their right to be free from gender-based violence (GBV). Through virtual consultations with and written survey responses from over 300 women, girls, men, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities, their advocates, and their support persons from around the world, we have learned that in almost all contexts—Global North and Global South, in places hit hard by CO V I D -19 and others with a much lower rate of infection—women and girls with disabilities have been left behind. They have struggled to meet their basic needs, to access needed health services including those needed both because of their gender and disability, and have faced disproportionate risks of violence.

As the COVID-19 pandemic gained momentum in 2020, UNFPA implemented the third year of its Strategic Plan 2018–2021. The plan’s targets are three transformative results to be achieved by 2030: ending preventable maternal deaths, ending unmet need for family planning, and ending GBV and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and child marriage. UNFPA adapted and responded quickly to the global emergency, focusing immediately on maintaining the provision of SRH information and services and on mitigating the impact of the pandemic on progress towards the three transformative results.

People in Kenya with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), especially those who are refugees and asylum-seekers, experience multiple forms of violence. There is, however, limited data and literature on intersectionality and experiences of violence in Kenya and the region, and further work is needed to better understand and prevent gender-based violence (GBV). Existing policies and programmes that focus on supporting refugees/migrants and people with diverse SOGIESC in Kenya are insufficient and inadequately integrated to address intersecting experiences and exclusions which drive and shape experiences of violence

This article explores the development and implementation of inclusive COVID-19 (corona disease 2019) Feminist Framework (CFF) on the equitability of response for researchers, health care advocates, and public health policymakers at international platforms. Mechanism of CFF entails the process to address and mitigate the institutional inequities, violation of human rights, public health, and race/sex/gender-based violence amid COVID-19. This framework is about institutional building, raising consciousness, ensuring freedom, collective liberation, bodily autonomy, equality, and giving women, children, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and racial- and gender-diverse people the freedom to make choices to promote a sense of greater control over their own lives.

Through a rapid review drawing on pandemics and epidemics with associated school closures, this article aims to understand first, the state of the evidence on impacts of school closures on select child protection outcomes and second, how governments have responded to school closures to protect the most vulnerable children. Only 21 studies out of 6433 reviewed met the inclusion criteria, with most studies exploring the effects of Ebola. While few studies were identified on harmful practices, a more robust evidence base was identified in regards to adolescent pregnancy, with studies pointing to its increase due to the epidemic or infection control measures, including school closures. The evidence base for studies exploring the impact on violence outcomes was limited, with sexual violence and exploitation located in a few studies on Ebola. Important lessons from this exercise can be applied to the COVID-19 response, particularly the inclusion of the most vulnerable children in programming, policy and further research.

Since early 2020, global stakeholders have highlighted the significant gendered consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, including increases in the risk of gender-based violence (GBV). Researchers have sought to inform the pandemic response through a diverse set of methodologies, including early efforts modelling anticipated increases in GBV. For example, in April 2020, a highly cited modelling effort by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners projected headline global figures of 31 million additional cases of intimate partner violence due to 6 months of lockdown, and an additional 13 million child marriages by 2030. In this paper, we discuss the rationale for using modelling to make projections about GBV, and use the projections released by UNFPA to draw attention to the assumptions and biases underlying model-based projections.

This study elucidates the responses of shelters and their adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects on their services to victims of violence, as well as how shelter managers assess the situation for victims, including changes in the rates and character of the violence observed by the shelters. A web-based survey was distributed twice to all Norwegian shelters (N = 46): first during the lockdown in spring 2020 and second during the relaxation of infection control measures in summer 2020. The shelters in Norway remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority saw a reduction in the number of requests during the lockdown, while the rates returned to normal when the strictest infection control measures were lifted. They expressed concern about the decline in requests during the lockdown as well as the well-being of some groups, such as victims from ethnic minority backgrounds, children, and victims with additional challenges.