SAVE the Children Philippines has partnered with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to ensure the fulfillment of children’s rights during armed conflict and other emergencies.

The partnership will be implemented through the European Union’s Integrated Emergency Preparedness and Child Protection Framework to Protect Children and their Communities from Violence during Emergencies in ASEAN grant.

The program aims to support children’s access to education, health and nutrition, child protection, child rights governance, food security and livelihoods, humanitarian response, and protection of children during disasters. It will be implemented in the municipalities of Datu Salibo, Mamasapano, and Radjah Buayan in the province of Maguindanao.

Atty. Alberto Muyot, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines, said the partnership will address the lifelong physical and psychological trauma and disabilities of children facing the harsh impacts of armed conflict, compounded by the natural disasters and Covid-19.

“Armed conflict cripples communities and disrupts health services and schools that are critical to children’s learning and development,” Muyot said.

“We must ensure local governments respect laws and norms and do more to protect children from the horrors of gun battles,” he added.

The group’s “Stop the War Report” said that one in six children across the world live in areas with armed conflict, including those in Mindanao.

“Children in armed conflict situations are prone to experience sexual and gender-based violence, child trafficking, and child marriage for girls, while boys are disproportionately vulnerable to recruitment as child soldiers, maiming, killing, abduction, and child labor,” Fanny Divino, Head of Save the Children Philippines in Cotabato City, said.

The implementation of the program will be in coordination with members of the CBCS, youth groups, school heads, police and military, non-state actors, and religious organizations.

Save the Children Philippines provides technical support in enhancing the Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act 162 or the Magna Carta for Children in the ARMM not only for the protection of children but in the overall fulfillment of children’s rights.