Forced Displacement and Violence Against Children in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Yumbe Uganda.

ABSTRACT This study sought to examine the impact of forced displacement on violence against children. Forced displacement in the context of the study relates to the coerced movement of persons as a result of either natural or manmade disaster while Violence against children refers to deliberate usage of physical force or power, either threatened or actual, on oneself, another child or against a group of children with resultant impact on the child’s physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. The study was guided by three main objectives which included; to examine the causes of violence against children in Bidibidi refugee settlement; to examine the forms of violence against children in Bidibidi Refugee settlement; and to examine the effectiveness of existing mechanisms to prevent and respond to violence against children in Bidibidi Refugee settlement. In this study, the researcher adopted a mixed method research where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. The researcher also applied a descriptive research to carry out the study. The population to the study was 283,000 from which a sample of 399 were arrived at using Slovene’s formula for sample size determination. Respondents were sampled through stratified sampling technique for the survey respondents and purposive sampling for the Key informants. Data was collected using questionnaires interview guides and focused group discussion guides and was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The study found out that VAC is happening in Bidibidi and is being influenced by a number of factors including separation of children from parents, lack of livelihood opportunities for care givers, and lack of awareness raising on child rights. The study further found out that unaccompanied children (UACs) in foster care, child headed households, and adolescent girls are the main categories of children at risk of sexual, physical and emotional violence. The study also found out that there are mechanisms established by humanitarian agencies to respond to violence against children with training in positive parenting, linking families to livelihood opportunities, supporting peer to peer mentorship programs and establishing child friendly spaces as the most effective mechanisms.. The study recommends for strengthening family support systems, enhanced coordination among humanitarian actors and establishing child friendly spaces as some of the interventions to prevent and respond to Violence against children in Bidibidi refugee settlement.