It has been two years since I finished Peace Corps in Mali. Since then, I've decided to focus on refugee health and humanitarian assistance in conflict areas. As part of my MPH program, I'll be in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo doing humanitarian work.
In partnership with a local Congolese NGO and Columbia University, I will be researching and reporting the incidence of war-related human rights violations against children in South Kivu province. UN Resolutions 1612 and 1882 established a monitoring and reporting mechanism (MRM) to track six grave violations against children in times of conflict. A colleague and I will be training interviewers and conducting a survey in 34 villages to determine how many of these violations are occurring in each area. We will then compare the data to our 2010 survey results with UNICEF to determine trends, and to gauge whether the situation has improved or worsened for children in the DRC over the last three years.
This will be an emotionally challenging assignment, but it has the potential to make a big impact. The results will hopefully inform policy-making in both DRC and the UN, and our data and reports will broaden the knowledge base on child protection issues within the region.
No comments:
Post a Comment