Description: Children and youth
migrating – whether between or within countries and whether accompanied
by their relatives or not – have become a recognized part of today’s
global and mixed migration flows. Nevertheless, in research and policy
debates, the migration of children and youth is considered a new area of
concern and focus. Information on children who are migrating is
consequently little reflected in global debates on migration. Often,
academic and policy discussions tend to represent children as passive
victims of exploitation, possibly even including trafficking situations,
coerced to move and work in exploitative situations. However, recent
research and policy approaches to unaccompanied migrant children are
revealing and addressing the varying experiences of children migrating –
both positive and negative. Independent child migration is not
necessarily an exploitative or damaging experience for children, but
rather a multidimensional phenomenon. Children can be actively involved
in the decision-making process regarding their future, including the
decision to continue their education, to work or to combine both.
Nonetheless, policy responses to support these unaccompanied migrant
children are fragmented and inconsistent, and the lack of
subject-specific expertise is a persisting problem. In line with the
increased attention paid to child migration as part of a larger
phenomenon of family migration, transnational families and family
reunification, the work of IOM has substantially grown in relation to
providing assistance to children on the move, particularly those who are
unaccompanied. As a global agency working on migration, it is of major
importance for IOM to strengthen and support coherent approaches to
unaccompanied migrant children. In this regard, the Organization is
collecting operational data and programmatic information on this
population of migrants to better address their needs. The document aims to provide an overview of the scope of activities of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in relation to the protection of unaccompanied migrant children and support for this group. It significantly draws on IOM’s operational data and programmatic information, collected through internal knowledge management tools; at the same time, this information is supplemented by a mapping of the activities of IOM Field Offices covering the period 2009–2011. This paper also benefits from a review of existing international standards and policy frameworks as well as recent research conducted on the topic of unaccompanied migrant children.
http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/free/UAM%20Report_11812.pdf
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