ISO presents world's first standards for child-friendly support for victims of violence

The new initiative, announced jointly with the Permanent Mission of Iceland at the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, aims to transform the way child victims receive care, protection and justice.

UNICEF estimates that over one billion people have experienced violence in their childhood. Every four minutes, a child somewhere in the world dies as a result of violence. 650 million girls and women - one in five - live with the trauma of sexual abuse. The consequences of such violence are devastating and lifelong, affecting a child's brain development, mental and physical health and ability to learn.

To address this critical issue, ISO has developed the first-ever global guidelines for child-friendly services for victims of violence to improve support and protection through a holistic and child-centered approach and create internationally recognized standards for a coordinated response.

ISO presents new requirements to UN Human Rights Council

ISO Secretary General Sergio Mujica explained that at its core, the initiative aims to safeguard and promote the human rights of children. "With these new international requirements, ISO is establishing a global approach to ensure that child victims receive the compassionate, coordinated support they need without being retraumatized by the systems that are supposed to help them," Mujica said.

The requirements create a consistent global foundation for multidisciplinary and multi-agency services, ensuring that child protection efforts worldwide meet a high standard while allowing for adaptation to different legal, cultural and social realities. These recommendations enable governments and frontline services, from social workers to law enforcement, health professionals and legal institutions, to work together effectively and ensure a global, standardized response to child victims of violence and abuse.

"We are proud to present the requirements at the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Importantly, the Guidelines have been developed with the input of child abuse survivors, children and key global partners, making them a truly inclusive approach to tackling violence against children."

International guidelines against child abuse

The development of the important guidelines was proposed by the Icelandic Ministry of Education and Children, a member of the Human Rights Council, and led by ISO members Icelandic Standards (IST) and Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS). More than 100 people have been actively involved, including the Icelandic government, UNICEF, the Council of Europe, Europol, Eurojust, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

The State Secretary of the Icelandic Ministry of Education and Children, Erna Kristín Blöndal, said Iceland has led the proposal to standardize the requirements for child-friendly services for victims of violence. "These recommendations are based on the Icelandic Barnahús (Children's House) model, which provides a child-friendly, multidisciplinary and multi-agency approach to supporting children who are victims or witnesses of violence," Ms. Blöndal said.

Although this model has been widely adopted and endorsed by renowned international organizations, inconsistencies have arisen in its implementation in individual countries in recent years. The publication of the guidelines is intended to address these inconsistencies by developing internationally recognized guidelines to harmonize the implementation of the Barnahús model, which may include conformity assessment procedures in the future. "Our hope is that this development will address the challenges posed by the fragmentation of services and underline the importance of integrated, holistic approaches to protecting children from further harm."

UNICEF supports new ISO standards

UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Regina De Dominicis, said: "Violence against children is pervasive and the consequences are lifelong. Yet the services and support that children affected by violence receive are often inadequate, compounding children's trauma. This universal framework for child-friendly services has the power to change this by standardizing child protection models like Barnahús and ensuring that every child receives the same level of quality care and protection."

The development of the recommendations was a truly inclusive process, informed by the voices of children and survivors. Through workshops led by Samfés in Iceland, the insights of children and survivors were directly incorporated to ensure that the final requirements reflect real life experiences and needs.

The initiative also strengthens the global commitment to child protection and is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - in particular Goal 16.2, which aims to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against children, and Goal 16.3, which promotes equal access to justice for all.

The new requirements can here can be downloaded free of charge.

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