Exploited Children Adviser, Save the Children UK
11 Save the Children UK is based in London (1 St John’s Lane, London, EC1M 4AR).
Protecting and supporting children on the move:
Translating principles into practice.
64
Note on the contributor
Daniela Reale is an Exploited Children Adviser at Save the Children UK in London and can be contacted at: d.reale@savethechildren.org.uk.
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Protecting and supporting children on the move:Translating principles into practice.
The article was written in the author's personal capacity and the views expressed in this article are those of the author's only and not necessarily those of their respective organizations.
Children on the Move
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This article reflects the work carried out by researchers and Save the Children staff who developed and tested the tools that are reviewed in this paper. The author wishes to thank those colleagues who shared experiences from their work, including Melinda Van Zyl and Meri Ghorkhmazyan, who managed the development and testing of the tools from Save the Children UK in South Africa, and Edelweiss Silan, who managed the pilot of the Mobility Assessment Tool in Thailand. Thanks also go to Ana Stiglic and to Lindsay Stark, Kathryn Roberts and Braeden Rogers from the Columbia Group for Children in Adversity for their work in developing and testing the Best Interest Determination Tool and Mobility Assessment Tool, respectively. Finally, special thanks go to Bill Bell and Sarah Lilley, who commented on this article.
aBsTracT
Globally, the number of children who are on the move is increasing. While previously neglected in the international debates on migration, children are now becoming a more recognized part of global migration flows. However, despite the growing attention, particularly from child protection agencies, to the specific perspectives, interests and vulnerabilities of these children and on the consequences – both positive and negative – of mobility on them, policies and practices for the protection of children on the move still fail. Despite their common vulnerabilities and protection needs, children on the move are still divided into distinct categories and channelled into different protection routes and services which are subject to different political priorities. This has created an inconsistent and, in some cases, contradictory system of protection. Save the Children’s current efforts with Children on the Move are focused on developing and piloting models of national and community-based child protection mechanisms that can respond to the specific needs of children who are affected by mobility and that are effective in areas of origin, during transit and at destination. This article describes some of Save the Children’s most recent work in developing methodologies that can assist in the design of responses for children on the move, particularly during transit, one of the most challenging stages for child protection programmes. These models include methods to assess the best interests of the child in each phase of his or her journey. This article also describes specific tools that Save the Children has recently tested and which aim to contribute to the debate on how to translate the principles enshrined in international standards into procedures and practices that genuinely protect all children on the move, irrespective of their migration status, and that can provide a protective presence during each phase of their journeys.
InTrOdUcTIOn
Millions of children ‘move’ both within and between countries. The majority move with their families but many do so independently. Children migrate for a variety of reasons: to escape poverty, abuse, violence or conflict, or to access education, jobs and basic services. Their movement takes many forms and their experiences are extremely varied.
Protecting and supporting children on the move:
Translating principles into practice.
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Children’s movement is becoming a more recognized part of larger migration flows and there is growing attention, particularly from child protection agencies, to the specific perspectives, interests and vulnerabilities of children who are on the move and on the consequences – both positive and negative – of mobility on children. Importantly, there has been increased recognition that further efforts are needed to identify the appropriate responses for the protection of all these children in appreciation of the commonalities of their protection needs.
Save the Children has been at the forefront of this debate. Since 2006, its work has built upon and evolved from programmes on child protection in general and on child exploitation and child trafficking in particular. Many of these programmes have naturally evolved into more holistic Children on the Move work which aims to build protection systems that work for all children affected by mobility.
Save the Children defines children on the move as:
Those children moving for a variety of reasons, voluntarily or involuntarily, within or between countries, with or without their parents or other primary caregivers, and whose movement might place them at risk (or at an increased risk) of economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence (Save the Children, 2010a).
‘Children on the Move’ is not meant as a ‘new’ category of children. It is an umbrella definition that brings together the multitude of categories in which children who move have been, often unhelpfully, divided. This definition, therefore, includes:
• children who have been trafficked;
• children who migrate (for example, to pursue better life opportunities, look for work or education, or escape exploitative or abusive situations at home);
• children displaced by conflict and natural disasters; and,
• children who live and work in the streets.
All of these children might find themselves at risk, especially of being exposed to various forms of abuse and involved in the worst forms of exploitation. This concept, by highlighting the common risks and challenges faced by all these children alongside their specific situations, needs and decisions, aims to refocus interventions and ensure coherent policies by placing the protection of the child at the centre. It also acknowledges the need to support the positive effect that mobility can have on improving children’s life chances.
This approach stemmed from the realization that the variety of categories into which children on the move were divided often failed to acknowledge the common protection risks faced by these children and the commonality of the responses they require. Additionally, evidence from policy analysis highlighted that children on the move were often confronted by policies made on the basis of inaccurate or incomplete assumptions about why and how children move (Reale, 2008). Children’s movement, for example, has often been considered within the framework of the debate on child trafficking. The consequence has been that responses have often been aligned to an anti-trafficking emphasis on the ‘rescue’ and ‘return’ of children to their areas of origin.
This fails to take into account why and how many children initiate their journeys and the role of their own decision-making, both as a trigger for movement and as an element of their protection.
Furthermore, despite the common risks they face, different categories of children have been channelled into different protection routes and services which are subject to different political priorities. This has created an inconsistent and, in some cases, contradictory system of protection,
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whereby some children and their families are left outside more developed protective systems established for some specific categories, such as for victims of trafficking or refugees, and are thus unable to access protective services that might respond to their needs. As a result, the majority of children on the move generally fall outside any other established legal and social protection systems,2 not only when they move across international borders but also when they move within their own countries, with migration being considered a security, rather than welfare, issue.
Addressing the needs and problems faced by children on the move is complex. Their largely invisible nature and the difficulty of devising appropriate responses for children at each stage of their respective journeys are compounded by the challenge of creating a child-centred protection system that has effective coordination mechanisms between agencies in the same location and between areas of origin, transit and destination, both within and between countries. This is a challenge that confronts government and child protection agencies alike.
Save the Children’s current efforts with Children on the Move is focused on developing and piloting models of national and community-based child protection mechanisms that can respond to the specific needs of children who are affected by mobility and that are effective in areas of origin, during transit and at destination. This article illustrates some of the most recent work in developing methodologies that can assist in the design of responses for these children, particularly during transit, one of the most challenging stages for child protection programmes. These models include methods to assess the best interests of the child in each phase of the journey: before the journey starts, during identification, reception, assistance and the search for durable solutions. This article also highlights the specific tools that Save the Children has recently tested and which aim to contribute to the debate on how to translate the principles enshrined in international standards into procedures and practices that genuinely protect all children on the move, irrespective of their migration status.