Our commitment to children

Introduction:

The aim of the policy is to implement a good practice to provide protection and safety for children and youth through the organization care and allow the work team and volunteers to report and respond to child protection issues.

Definitions:

• Child: It is defined as any person under the age of eighteen.

Child Protection: It is a set of policies, procedures, and practices that we follow to ensure that Violet is a safe environment for children.

We know that children may be harmed as a result of multiple actions by a small minority of employees and actors. We never tolerate such behavior and follow strict policies to prevent and respond to these problems. We aim to ensure that everyone associated with the organization is aware and responds appropriately to child abuse and sexual exploitation issues.

We also aim to ensure that anyone representing our organization behaves appropriately towards children, whether at work or outside of work, and never abuses the trust that comes from being part of Violet.

However, we also know that unintended actions, the lack of preventive measures and other shortcomings from our side can sometimes have an unintended consequence of causing harm.

Child abuse: Child abuse includes anything that individuals or institutions do or fail to do, which harms children directly or indirectly or harms their vision of safe and healthy growth until adulthood, and accordingly the World Health Organization defines the main categories of abuse as (physical abuse – emotional abuse – Neglect – sexual assault – exploitation – physical assault).

Child sexual exploitation: Sexual exploitation of a child under the age of majority is a sexual assault on children and a criminal offense.

A child under the legal age (18) cannot give pre-approval on sexual activity. Violet organization believes that:

Sexual activity with a child without his consent is considered child abuse and crime, for example, rape, inappropriate assault.

Any sexual activity with a child under the legal age is considered sexual assault and a crime regardless of the consent of the country in which they live and / or in which the child abuse crime occurs.

Any sexual activity by mutual consent with a child over the legal age (according to the laws of the country in which you live and / or where the crime occurs) but under the age of 18 will be treated as a violation of the child protection policy and the organization’s Code of Conduct.

Child Safeguarding Policy: It is a policy relates to Violet organization and includes all of its programs and departments, which aims to protect the child from all kinds of risks resulting from our programs, employees, volunteers and partners.

The policy scope:

Violet organization pledged to innovate and implement humanitarian action policies, and therefore, everyone who works in the organization’s offices and projects (employees, casual workers, volunteers, secretaries, members of the general commission, partners ….) must assume their responsibilities to protect children from harm and humiliation, both in his occupational or personal life, and this means following the procedures stipulated for children protection and notifying of any concerns related to the child according to the approved reporting mechanism. Therefore, everyone who works with Violet organization is concerned with carrying out their work in a safe and protective environment for children, and violations of policy can lead to disciplinary actions including possible dismissal.

The organization has ethical and legal obligations that employees adhere to, whether they are full-timers or part-timers or work under voluntary or short-term contracts. This policy also requires all suppliers and service providers, for example: researchers, consultants, trainers, merchants … etc, to abide by it, and violations may lead to the termination of the relationship, including the contracting and partnership agreement. When necessary, it will be referred to legal or other appropriate frameworks in accordance with national laws.

The organization’s obligations:

Violet organization is committed to the following:

The interests of the child (the best interests of the child) regardless of age, ability, gender, language, race, or religious belief.

Take all reasonable steps to protect children from harm, discrimination, degrading treatment and respect for their rights, aspirations, and feelings.

All doubts and allegations about bad practices towards children are taken seriously and responded promptly and appropriately.

When recruiting Violet’s team, their suitability for previous responsibilities will be taken into consideration in terms of child protection, and they will be provided with guidance and training on good practices and child protection measures.

Unacceptable actions:

Violet organization’s staff, volunteers and other actors are not allowed to:

Hit or harm children physically or psychologically.

Behave badly on a human level or making the child vulnerable to insult and derision.

Develop any relationship with any child that can be considered as exploitation on a human level.

Allow children to work.

Act in a way that can cause insult or demeaning children or any other form of emotional insult.

Prefer Some children to others clearly and unfairly and exclude others.

Involve in any sexual activity or relationship with any child, regardless of local or cultural norms.

Use bad language or provide any bad advice, suggestions, or recommendations.

Use inappropriate gestures that stimulates sexual desire

Do personal activities for children that they can do themselves.

Participate illegally in activities related to children.

Spend long times with children alone, away from people, as this behavior may raise suspicions.

Show inappropriate images or movies and websites such as sexual websites or use excessive violence in front of children.

Put themselves in suspicious situations that could put them at risk of accusation because of misconduct.

(This is not a comprehensive or exclusive list. Employees, partners, and other actors must always avoid actions or behavior that might allow distorting behavior, forming bad practices, or behavior that can possibly be abusive).

Reporting mechanisms:

All employees, volunteers, casual workers, members of the general commission and trustees and everyone who has a relationship with the organization, including suppliers, consultants and partners, must notify the focal points or the officer of the accountability department or the country director as soon as possible and preferably within 24 hours of any concerns related to children according to the approved reporting mechanism.

Reporting process flow chart

Monitoring:

The application of procedures should be monitored and reviewed periodically, and the human resources department and field contact officers should periodically notify the administration of progress, challenges, difficulties, achievement gaps, and required changes.

This policy will be reviewed every now and then or when there is a major change in the organization or in the relevant legislation.

Any breach of this policy will be seen as a breach of the organization’s code of conduct, and the person (or persons) who violate the child protection policy will be treated under discipline actions that may lead to removal / dismissal.