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Published On: Thu, May 17th, 2018

Action plan child protection in the making

PHILIPSBURG – The development of a concrete action plan to improve children’s protection though their emergency preparedness by each participant, participating institution or department. That is one of the objectives of a 3-day long child protection in emergencies training that will begin on Friday at the University of Saint Martin and continue after the weekend on Monday and Tuesday.

Leona Marlin-Romeo - 20180516 HHPrime Minister Leona Marlin-Romeo met with the director of the Court of Guardianship, Richelda Rodriguez-Emmanuel, and with two UNICEF-representatives to discuss the training program.

The Unicef reps are child protection specialist Anna Kroon and child protection in emergencies training consultant Joanna Wedge.

The training stems fro the post-disaster assessment Unicef conducted in St. Maarten after Hurricane Irma during the months of September and October 2017.

“The findings reveal the need for child protection to be mainstream and strengthened across  the disaster management system in preparation for possible future disasters,” Marlin-Romeo said. “There is also a need to increase the understanding of child protection in emergencies among key stakeholders in disaster response.”

Other objectives of the training are to introduce the key concept of protecting children from future disasters and to explore the global minimum standards for child protection and situate them in the context of St. Maarten.

“In the context of taking charge and strengthening our government institutions during disasters and as minister with the responsibility for disaster management I endorse this initiative, as it addresses specific gaps in our disaster preparedness,’ Marlin-Romeo said.