child protection perspective
95
Children on the Move
Children’s migration:
Towards a multidimensional child protection perspective
96
Note on the contributors
Susu Thatun is a Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF’s headquarters in New York and can be contacted at: sthatun@unicef.org.
Karin Heissler is a Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF’s headquarters in New York and can be contacted at: kheissler@unicef.org.
96
Children’s migration:Towards a multidimensional child protection perspective
The article was written in the authors' personal capacity and the views expressed in this article are those of the authors' only and not necessarily those of their respective organizations.
Children on the Move
97 aBsTracT
In the field of migration, child migrants occupy a mixed space, generally viewed as acted upon, either as victims, passive followers or ‘left behind.‘ Despite growing evidence that recognizes children’s evolving capacities, resilience and agency, children’s independent movements are generally viewed as an anomaly. Programmes and policies developed on this assumption that aims to protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation in the context of migration risk putting children at harm and infringing on their rights. The intended protective role of international standards, along with some experiences in programme implementation, are also discussed. The paper cautions against the rigid classification of child migrants into programmatically convenient categories as they move in and out of them. Drawing on a range of literature, programming experience and available evidence, this paper seeks to advance a child protection perspective to children’s migration throughout the whole cycle of migration, from the place of origin, to transit and destination, and, in all contexts, taking into consideration the need to adopt a multilevel, interdependent, multidisciplinary and evidence-based approach to the phenomenon. Children’s migration cannot be delinked from wider socioeconomic, political and historical factors. Factors at community level, including the impact of ongoing social and economic changes, affect migration, including that of children. The household also plays a significant role in determining who migrates and under what circumstances. Finally, it is necessary to understand the individual characteristics and interests of the child and his or her interactions and interdependencies with the household, as well as his or her own aspirations and motivations, as this helps bring clarity as to who migrates and for what reasons. Consideration of the dynamics among all these factors, including the interrelationships and interdependencies among the categories explored, further suggests how they shape and affect children’s migration and the experiences migrant children have.
InTrOdUcTIOn
There is strong interest on the part of policymakers, development officials, civil society actors and academics in all forms of migration, particularly, cross-border and irregular migration. Within the broad topic of migration, child migrants occupy a mixed space. In general, children are seen as acted upon, as victims, passive followers of their parents/guardians or ‘left behind’ while one or both parents migrate for work (Whitehead and Hashim, 2005; O'Connell Davidson and Farrow, 2007; Dobson, 2009; Brettel, 2003).
Findings from small-scale qualitative studies and from a number of disciplines identify that, across contexts, migration of some form is a reality for many girls and boys who migrate without their parents/caregivers for different purposes, including schooling, work and a combination of the two;
strengthening social networks, kinship and other ties; a rite of passage, or for adventure, among others (Hashim, 2005; Punch, 2007; Whitehead and Hashim, 2005; Monsutti, 2007). By and large, however, children, as independent migrants, are largely invisible to policymakers, except when there is some form of force, including trafficking.
Many projects, programmes and policies related to children’s migration are, in many ways, reflective of the views held by the development actors and child-focused organizations that enact them: that children’s independent movements are an anomaly. Well-intentioned policies focused on ‘protective’ measures that raise administrative barriers for children often tip the balance away from protecting children from harm to infringing on their rights. At the extreme, interventions
Children’s migration:
Towards a multidimensional child protection perspective
98
based on this perspective have inadvertently led to age- and gender-specific prohibitive responses, such as those that impede children’s independent migration through interception along the migration route as a ‘rescue’ measure from the imminent danger of trafficking, or through raids at the destination point. Children may then be returned home with the assumption that such responses are in line with the principle of the best interests of the child, whereas, in fact, by failing to take into consideration the reasons or underlying structural dimensions why children have left home, the response may be harmful and counterproductive.
Having provided a brief overview of the children’s mixed place within the topic of migration, this paper proposes what it means to look at the process of children’s migration from a child protection perspective. This paper draws on relevant policy and academic documents, programming experiences, and the reflections and lessons learned over the past 10 years, when the International Convention on the Protection of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children came into force in 2003, and when the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air came into force in 2004.
Before setting out several key perspectives to be examined, an overview is provided of what is to be understood as ‘child migration’ and, subsequently, the term ‘child protection.’