Decades of conflict have eroded the physical and social fabric of Afghanistan, with severe impacts on the lives of children. Kerry Boland, consultant to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), talked about her experience building formal and informal mechanisms to protect children in Afghanistan.

Kerry drew on her experience with UNICEF in supporting the Afghan government to set up a Child Protection Action Network (CPAN). Reflecting on her work with the Afghan government, NGOs, community and religious leaders in the provinces, she will illustrate how child protection issues are identified and dealt with in local communities. In particular, she gave her perspective on initiatives to prevent and eradicate abuse and exploitation, with special attention to ending early and forced marriage and hazardous and exploitive labour.

Kerry has worked in a range of conflict-affected situations in Afghanistan, Chad, Sri Lanka, Turkey and elsewhere. Her work has focused on protection issues related to women and children. She is the author of Children on the Move, a UNICEF study on children of Afghan origin moving to western countries. She has worked for the Australian Red Cross and was a Senior Member of the Refugee Review Tribunal.

This lecture is presented by the Development Policy Centre and the Children’s Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/event-extra/past