Discusses program issues surrounding the protection of children, a relatively new and separate aspect of social protection policies. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) played a pivotal role in increasing the focus on child protection; new strategies emphasize empowering children to be part of the solution to their problems. Hampering these efforts, however, are a lack of data on the adverse conditions under which children are living, especially in Asia, and of how to remedy them. Studies urgently are needed that address, by age group: health, nutrition, education, sanitation and hygiene, reproductive health and fertility, human/child rights and democracy, institutional support, capacity building, and children in difficult circumstances (such as prostitution). Children living in countries in economic transition or in war especially suffer the effects of wealth disparities and weakened family structure. Under the provisions of the CRC, all children are to be protected from exploitation in work and commercial sex, physical and sexual abuse, drug abuse, the effects of armed conflict, trafficking, and mistreatment in the judicial system. An integrated children’s rights-based approach takes into account the complexity of social protection issues, involves different stakeholders, relies on good-quality data, and identifies priorities.
