ISSOP (the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health) has issued a statement on the need to avoid separating children from their parents at borders, for reasons of security. Three particular examples are given, namely the US border with Mexico, at entry into the UK at airports, and at the Gaza - Israel border when Palestinian children are being referred for health care in Israel.
ISSOP states that
'such actions are violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). These violations result in acute distress for children at the time of separation, and will result in lasting adverse emotional and physical sequelae across their life course.'
The statement may be found on the ISSOP website -
https://www.issop.org/2020/03/18/issop_separation_statement/
Please disseminate widely.
Your comments in relation to your own country situation on separation of children from their parents for security reasons, will also be very welcome -
Tony Waterston
CHIFA profile: Tony Waterston is a retired consultant paediatrician who worked mainly in the community in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He spent 6 years working in Zambia and Zimbabwe and directed the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Diploma in Palestinian Child Health teaching programme in the occupied Palestinian territories. He was an Editor of the Journal of Tropical Pediatrics and is on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Social Pediatrics. His academic interests are child poverty, advocacy for child health and children's rights. He is currently the lead moderator of CHIFA . www.chifa.org He is also a member of the HIFA Steering Group.
www.hifa.org/people/steering-group www.hifa.org/support/members/tony
Tony.Waterston AT newcastle.ac.uk
