Protection humanitaire

In addition, some protection-specific responses may be needed to address human rights and humanitarian law violations or to restore the rights of individuals who are particularly vulnerable to, or at risk of, violence, neglect, discrimination, abuse or exploitation (IASC, 2016). Both context-specific factors and various aspects of identity (such as age, sex, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities, ethnicity or indigenous background) can contribute to increased vulnerabilities. Special attention should be paid to groups or individuals who are traditionally less protected or at risk of becoming targeted by violence. This could, for instance, include mobile groups, such as migrants, specific ethnic or gender groups, and children, who often make up a large portion of crisis-affected communities.

Crises tend to weaken child protection services, and this may expose children to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence during emergencies. This vulnerability is more likely if children are separated from their families and communities due to displacement (The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Affairs, 2020). Therefore, enabling families to remain together can be an important protection measure (see Child migration and Family and migration).

Another particularly acute mobility-related protection risk in the context of crises is human trafficking, as displaced people may be more vulnerable to this kind of exploitation. The collapse of traditional support structures and the weakening of State structures and social service systems may exacerbate this problem (see Trafficking in persons and the mobility of crises). Gender-based violence (GBV) is a further distinct protection risk that is often exacerbated in humanitarian crises and situations of fragility more broadly. During conflict, GBV is frequently used as a weapon of war, putting women and girls, men and boys, as well as non-binary individuals at risk (see Gender in crisis and post-crisis contexts).

In the case of local evacuations, international migrants may be more reluctant than nationals to evacuate a crisis area, or less likely to do so, or they may move independently along different routes and to different destinations from other groups (MICIC Initiative, 2016; Guadagno, 2016). In emergencies, factors that shape the experiences and behaviours of international migrants include, for instance, the location in which they live or work, their ability to understand messages and communicate in the local language, the way they are reached by emergency warnings and how they interpret them, the levels of trust they have in the local emergency management system, and the resources they can mobilize to get out of harm’s way. Thus, socioeconomic conditions and cultural background should be factored into planning and responses.

As a last resort and in the absence of other locally available, effective means of protecting affected persons in situations of crises, international humanitarian evacuations may become necessary. Such operations will need to be coordinated by the host State and the migrants’ State of origin. In addition, coordinating with third countries through which evacuees would be transiting is essential. International evacuations need to be tailored to the affected people’s needs and vulnerabilities. International humanitarian organizations are often well placed to provide support in this regard, including IOM through its Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programme. VHR of international migrants to their home countries usually takes place in the midst of acute humanitarian crises as a possible option to bring migrants out of harm’s way and address their often-urgent humanitarian needs.

In all assisted movements, including evacuations, the affected populations’ vulnerability should be addressed pre-departure, during movement and upon arrival, and appropriate screening systems should be in place to ensure that individuals are provided with the appropriate support for travel (see Migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse). Moreover, health is a critical part of any assisted movement operation. During assisted movements, providing a comprehensive prevention and care package in support of migrant health throughout the movement process is recommended (see Health and migration).