Traversing Danger: Cumulative Risks and Psychological Harm for Children in Migration (2025)

In this study, Save the Children examined the protection risks for children on the move along their migratory journeys, with a focus on routes between Sudan and Egypt, Libya and Greece, as well as on the Balkans Route. So far, there has been limited research on the impact of these harmful events on children, which emerge at different points, i.e., along the entirety of their journey. Drawing on interviews with children, their caregivers, and practitioners conducted between February and October 2025, the study aims to address this gap by capturing a comprehensive picture of the physical and psychological harm experienced by children on the move and analyzing how they are at risk of repeated and sustained exposure to such harm. This repeated exposure to harm before and during departure, in transit, and at arrival in a destination country, can have compounding adverse effects on the well-being, (mental) health, cognitive and emotional development of children.

Following this route-based approach, the study subsequently considered how EU migration policies either sustain, contribute to, or mitigate these protection risks. As shown throughout this study, outsourcing migration control to neighbouring countries has too often meant outsourcing risk and harm, with children’s rights and well-being overlooked.