In 2021, some 202,000 girls and boys among the affected population will need psychosocial support. Due to insecurity and population movements, many children have been forced to flee their villages, sometimes being witnesses or victims of violence; involving high level of stress and trauma and significant negative consequences for their cognitive and emotional development. Family separations due to sudden population displacements continue to occur and between January and September 2020, a total of 1,594 separated or unaccompanied children (UASC) were identified.

Appropriate alternative care is not always available or only to a limited extent.Abductions as well as the use and recruitment of children by armed groups are a major problem faced by children and young people in the Far North, especially girls aged 9 to 13 and boys aged 10 to 17 years. Between January and September 2020, 232 children (including 120 girls and 112 boys) associated with armed groups were identified. Children who were formerly associated with armed groups face real difficulties in reintegrating into their communities of origin despite intergenerational dialogue initiatives. Most young girls who managed to escape from non-State armed groups often come out pregnant, or even accompanied by children, as a result of sexual violence they suffered.

In the Far North region, child protection actors will continue to work on supporting formal and communi-ty-based child protection systems, placing particular emphasis on (i) capacity building of adolescent girls and boys as agents of change for peacebuilding, and the promotion of intergenerational and interreligious dialogue, supporting the socioeconomic reintegration of out-of-school adolescent girls and boys. Indeed, particular attention will be placed on adolescent boys and girls (more specifically those from the early and middle adolescence periods, between 10 and 17), so as to consider their specific perspectives and needs in both outreach and programming and enabling their meaningful participation for more adapted interventions in their regard, (ii) capacity building of deconcentrated child protection structures through a humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach and (iii) increased coordination at all levels, under the leadership of the Regional Delegation of Social Affairs.