Kids Abroad: Ignore them, abuse them or protect them? (Lessons on how to protect children on the move from being exploited)

Terre des Hommes reviews a wide range of initiatives to support children who leave home without being accompanied by any other family member, discussing the situation in Western and South Eastern Europe and also in West Africa, Central America, South Asia and South East Asia.The study criticises the way that children travelling alone are treated in some countries, but focuses primarily on what can be done within the limitations of the law to assist such children and enable them to exercise their human rights. It notes that in countries where immigration policy (and detaining irregular immigrants) is a government priority, it is difficult for Terre des Hommes or other organisations to give separated children the support that child rights organisations know to be appropriate (and to which the children are often entitled), for fear that they will be accused of infringing the law. Terre des Hommes’ study ends with a series of recommendations. The main one is that more effort should be made to “prevent migration being unsafe” for young people under 18.