2018 PS4001 Prevention, mitigation and rehabilitation for Palestinian children exposed to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment

The overall objective of the action is to enable civil society to protect Palestinian children from, and hold duty bearers accountable for, torture and other ill treatment of children in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. To do this, the consortium [comprised of War Child, Defense for Children (DCI), the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), and the Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC)] will coordinate to ensure an integrated prevention, accountability and rehabilitation network for Palestinian children exposed to torture and other ill-treatment, in settings of conflict with both Palestinian and Israeli law/authorities, as well domestic settings. The consortium will coordinate with, train, and/or enable community and local professional structures to prevent, mitigate and respond to torture and ill-treatment of children, as well as cooperating with existing but incomplete prevention, accountability and treatment networks. Evidence based monitoring, documentation, advocacy and lobbying will place pressure on and hold duty bearers accountable for the torture and other ill-treatment of children. Community level and specialised psychosocial and psychological support will promote recovery, reintegration and resilience of children, young people and families exposed to torture and other ill-treatment. War Child, DCI and PCC have previously partnered to address protection and rehabilitation needs of children in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) affected by maltreatment including during conflict with military and civil law. Treatment of torture-related traumatic stress, as proposed in this action, is a highly specialised field within clinical psychology/psychiatry; therefore the unique and specialised skill set of TRC was sought to complete the consortium. . Each organisation provides expertise at different levels of an integrated holistic prevention and accountability system and care response – War Child is coordinator of, and accountable for the project, and provides multi-sectoral case management, high level technical support from international child trauma specialists, undertakes M&E and research, and provides leverage for international advocacy. DCI provides legal and child rights awareness raising, direct legal support for children, professional training on juvenile and restorative justice, and child protection interventions as well as local and international policy lobby and advocacy including monitoring, documentation and reporting of child rights violations. PCC provides community and family level training and resilience promoting interventions for those most at risk, as well as surge response for crisis assessments and brief interventions for families directly affected. TRC provides multi-faceted comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation as well as evidence-based monitoring, documentation and reporting of torture through the Istanbul Protocol, and builds the capacities of health experts and other stakeholders in identifying and reporting torture. . Primary stakeholders in this project are families with children who are suffering from psychological distress due to exposure to torture and ill-treatment while in conflict with the law. Other key stakeholders are found in social and institutional layers surrounding these children and families, including CBOs, helping professionals and organisations in the legal, human rights and allied health sectors, as well as law enforcement and justice systems at both implementation and policy level, and finally international HR bodies and instruments. . The action will be undertaken over 28 months. Activities will be concentrated in the first 24 months, however certain rehabilitation activities (in particular individual psychological/psychiatric treatment for survivors of torture and ill-treatment who commence treatment late in the project period), may continue beyond 24 months based on clinical and diagnostic prerogatives.