Program on Forced Migration and Health

Neil Boothby
Allan Rosenfield Professor of Clinical Forced Migration and Health

Former Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health
E-mail: NB2101@columbia.edu

Neil Boothby, EdD, is the Allan Rosenfield Professor of Clinical Forced Migration and Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. His research has focused on the effects of armed conflict and violence on children in Cambodia (1980-82), Mozambique (1988-2005), Guatemala (1983-86), former Yugoslavia (1992-3), Rwanda (1994-96), Darfur (2005-present), Palestine (2001-present), Sri Lanka, (2002-present), and Indonesia (1999-present). His longitudinal study of adult outcomes for child soldiers in Mozambique enabled him to identify interventions and community supports linked to positive life outcomes. Lessons learned from the Mozambique research are now being applied through operational agencies to current war-affected countries with large numbers of child soldiers. A second focus of his work has been on children separated from their families during war and refugee emergencies. His cornerstone study showed that many child-family separations are not accidental, but instead result from abductions and misguided agency policies and practices. This observation has been translated into international standards (including in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and UNHCR Refugee Policy) and inter-agency guidelines (International Committee of the Red Cross-UNICEF-Save the Children-International Rescue Committee). Boothby has published extensively on children and war concerns, and has received a number of awards for his field work, including the Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Award and the UN’s Global Achievement Award for Excellence in the Social Sector.

Dr. Boothby was also Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health until March 2012. He is currently on leave of absence to serve as the US Government’s Special Adviser and Senior Coordinator for Children in Adversity. Working with the USAID Administrator and the Assistant Administrator of Global Health, Dr. Boothby serve as both as the agency’s senior expert for children in low and middle income countries as well as the coordinator of all US assistance to vulnerable children among United States departments and agencies.

Dr. Boothby was also principal investigator of several research projects One of these projects—the Care and Protection of Children Learning Network (CPC Network)—is a constellation of more than 75 agencies working worldwide on the development of an evidence base for efficacious child protection programming in war, disaster and post crises settings. Currently, CPC Network Program Learning Groups are undertaking operational research in eight countries: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. A general theme in these country studies is how to integrate child protection into broader humanitarian responses. One of the key findings emerging from this multi-country research is the importance of economics and livelihoods on child protection—or exploitation—as well as psychosocial support.

See video of Neil Boothby discussing Child Soldiers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVgxWQYkASA

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Boothby, N and Ager, A., (2011) Protection of Children in Disaster and War, (eds) Parker, R and Sommer, M, Routledge Handbook in Global Public Health, London.

Boothby, N., and Ager, A., (2010) “Promoting a Protective Environment for Children Affected by Disaster and War, (eds.) Garbarino, J. and Sigman, G., A Child’s Right to a Healthy Enviornment, New York: Springer, 105-121.

Boothby, N., “Don’t Assume They’re Orphans,” Op Ed, Miami Herald, February 15, 2010.

Boothby N. Political Violence and Development: An Ecological Approach to Children in War Zones. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2008, 497-514.

Boothby N. What Happens when Child Soldiers Grow Up? Intervention, Vol. 3, No.4, 244-259.

Boothby N, Strang A, Wessells M. (eds): A World Turned Upside Down: Social Ecologies of Children and War. Kumarian Press, 2006.

Boothby N, Crawford J, Halperin J. Mozambique Child Soldier Life Outcome Study: Lessons Learned in Rehabilitation and Reintegration Efforts. Global Public Health, February 2006.

Boothby N, Knudsen C. Children of the Gun. Scientific American, June, 2000, 60-65.

Boothby N. Care and Placement of Unaccompanied Children: Mozambique's Effort to Link Grassroots Networks of Volunteers to a National Program. African Journal of Social Development, University of Zimbabwe, July, 1993, 11-22.

Boothby N. Displaced Children: Psychological Theory and Practice From the Field. Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol 5, No. 2, 1992, 107-122.

Ressler EM, Boothby N, Steinbock D. Unaccompanied Children in Emergencies: Care and Protection in Wars, Natural Disasters and Mass Population Movements. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Boothby, N (in press). Mozambique Life Outcome Study: How Did Child Soldiers Turn Out as Adults?( eds) Ozerdem, A and Podder, S. The Long Road Home: Mapping Trajectories in Child Soldier Reintegration: Stories in Identify, Livelihoods and Return, Cambridge University Press.

Magid, B and Boothby, N. (in press) Promoting Resilience in Children of War. (eds) Fernando, C. and Ferrari, M. The Handbook on Promoting Resilience in Children, Springer.

Sarrough, T.E. and Boothby, N. (in press) Protection of Children in Humanitarian Crises, (eds) Cook, D. and Wall, J. Children and Armed Conflict, Palgrave. New York.