offenders and more children using social media202 (combined with parents being unable to offer as much supervision as usual and children feeling lonely and anxious).203 Recommended actions to protect girls’ rights When emergency measures are being developed, include flexible school opening policies and practices to ensure that girls, and especially girls in marginalized situations, can exercise their right to education. Special measures, such as waiving or reducing school fees or providing grants, can be included in recovery programmes to encourage girls’ re-enrolment and retention after emergencies. Special measures should be taken to ensure that girls are provided with adequate technology to enable them to fully take part in education during lockdown situations. For example, Croatia and Latvia provided computers and SIM cards with unlimited Internet access to students,204 although it is not clear whether there was any particular focus on girls. The risk to girls of gender-based violence and exploitation, early marriage, female genital mutilation and other potential human rights violations should be assessed in emergency planning as a potential consequence of crises measures. Protection of girls should be integrated into emergency measures and recovery plans. Ensure the accessibility of support services for girls and the continuity of programmes that conducted outreach with at-risk girls before the emergency (clubs, peer networks, etc.). DISRUPTIONS TO SOCIAL CARE AND SUPPORT SERVICES Social distancing measures have had a direct impact on the provision of social services to adults and children, including by social workers and though centres and shelters for people in vulnerable groups (such as, but not limited to, people experiencing homelessness, people with addictions, survivors of domestic violence and persons with disabilities). Members of these groups are the very people who are in the most vulnerable situations during emergencies of any kind. In some cases, services have been disrupted or reorganized (e.g., 202 Europol, ”Exploiting Isolation: Offenders and Victims of Online Child Sexual Abuse During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, 19 June 2020, <https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/ exploiting-isolation-offenders-and-victims-of-online-child-sexual-abuse-during-covid-19-pandemic>. 203 National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, “Lonely Children Are Twice as Likely to Be Groomed Online”, 23 April 2020, <https://www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/news-opinion/2020/ coronavirus-children-groomed-online/>. 204 FRA, FRA, “Coronavirus Pandemic in the EU – Fundamental Rights Implications”, Bulletin #1”, op. cit., note 82, p. 18. 59

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