The IPA Access to Play in Crisis (APC) Project
A Synthesis Report of IPA’s research from around the world BY SUDESHNA CHATTERJEE
The adoption of the General comment on Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC 1990) by the UN Committee in 2013 was a significant landmark for recognizing and realizing the right to play for all children, in all cultures, countries and circumstances. Within the General comment, the Committee drew attention to the play rights of children in difficult circumstances including children in situations of conflict, humanitarian and natural disasters. In Istanbul, 2014, IPA held a Special Workshop within its Triennial World Conference. This workshop, ‘Access to Play in Crisis’, considered the principles, challenges and design of space for play for children in situations of conflict, humanitarian and natural disasters. The workshop also identified significant gaps in knowledge and understanding about the play needs of children in crisis situations and how those needs should be met. Evidence shows that everyday opportunities for play are an essential component of physical, social, cognitive, emotional and spiritual development as well as a fundamental part of the pleasure of childhood. Children in situations of crisis have a heightened need for play in their everyday lives. “Opportunities for play, recreation and cultural activity can play a significant therapeutic and rehabilitative role in helping children recover a sense of normality and joy after their experience of loss, dislocation and trauma.” (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2013: 17)
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Globally profound disaster conditions – both natural and man-made – are on the rise precipitating situations of crisis of different scales and nature (see table 1 for a typology of crisis). Between 2005 and 2014, ‘natural’ disasters affected an annual average of 168.5 million people (Lovell & Masson 2015). The extent of the impact of these natural hazards is typically directly proportional to people’s vulnerability to hazards and people’s capacity to cope (Wisner et al. 2014). Data compiled by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs show that 97 million people were affected by natural disasters in 2013 alone, the top five affected countries being China, Philippines, India, Vietnam and Thailand. In the same year 51.2 million people were affected by conflict (World Humanitarian Data and Trends 2014). On the other hand, the Slum Almanac 2015-16 published by UN Habitat records one in eight people living in slums or over a billion people around the world living in slum like and oftenhazardous conditions in cities. Everyday hazards can have as great or sometimes greater impact on children’s lives over the long run than a one-time large-scale disaster. Big natural disasters can drive reform and the allocation of resources, leading to improvements in public safety (Lepore 2016). But the crisis of growing up in poverty in adequate living environments has no such power for driving policy change even though it not only threatens the individual child but entrenches and even exacerbates inequality in society (Ortiz et al. 2012).
