The international community has struggled to effectively and humanely respond to the increase in forced displacement and has failed in finding effective solutions to the overwhelming immediate humanitarian needs of affected children and youth. In the case of displaced children and youth, it is of vital importance to consider more flexible and responsive alternatives to more traditional accounts of international humanitarian assistance. The current situation has resulted in policies and practices that reveal grave ethical issues, such as ignoring the constant physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children in refugee camps; governments and other institutions forcing employees to sign confidentiality non-disclosures, and others. The main task of this paper is to make visible some of the current humanitarian practices of institutions and nation-states. We argue that the international humanitarian community and powerful western states have failed to provide necessary protections for child refugees, and that the policies and regulations they have enforced actively undermine human rights and human dignity. Ultimately, by drawing attention to the gap between national sovereignty, political rhetoric and global justice, we hope to chart a possible venue for how the transformation of humanitarian practice and international law in regard to refugee children can take place, and should. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Children human rights Refugees Humanitarian aid Responsibility dignity

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