You are here
Children on the move
As of January 2016, an estimated 30 million children are on the move, both within and between countries, with or without their parents. They are part of large-scale population movements currently taking place in many parts of the world.
Children on the move are those children moving for a variety of reasons, voluntary or involuntary 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 inadequate care, economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect or violence.
Children on the move is an umbrella term that brings together a series of categories of children to highlight their common protection needs, including, children who have been trafficked, children who migrate (e.g. to pursue better life opportunities, to look for work or education or to escape exploitative or abusive situations at home, or because of other protection needs), children displaced by conflict and natural disasters and children who live and work in the streets.
Movement can help children and their families improve their living standards and life opportunities. However, children do not always benefit from such potentials. Child protection policies and interventions should refocus to place the protection of the child at the centre as well as the need to support the positive aspects of mobility.
Save the Children’s goal is that all children, including those on the move and in emergencies, have appropriate care either from their own families or community-based alternatives.
Photo: Pedro Armestre/Save the Children
-
Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016
The third of its kind, the 2016 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons covers 136 countries and provides an overview of patterns and flows of human trafficking at global, regional, and national levels. The UNODC, having systematically collected dat
-
Save the Children's Rescue at Sea
In September 2016, Save the Children launched the Mediterranean rescue operation Rescue at Sea. During its three months of operation, Save the Children’s search and rescue team, aboard the organisation’s rescue ship Vos Hestia, rescued over 2,700 lives, i
-
Children on the Move: Mexico
Save the Children’s response in Mexico emphasizes the creation and promotion of alternatives that prevent migration of unaccompanied children and adolescents in Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America. Save the Children also articulates action
-
European Refugee Crisis, Response Dashboard, 29th January 2016
Save the Children’s European Refugee Crisis Response Dashboard provides the latest information on the European Refugee Crisis in Europe. This short report provides key figures and information on the current state of the crisis in Europe, as of the 29 th o
-
Uprooted: The growing crisis for refugee and migrant children
Produced by Unicef, this comprehensive report presents a global data set on migrating and displaced children in today’s world: where they are born, where they move, and some of the dangers they face along the way. Children on the move are at risk of some
-
Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes Migrantes Retornados. Un análisis de los contextos y las respuestas de los servicios y las políticas de protección en El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y México
This rapid assessment aims to address the lack of information on policies and services of government agencies and non-governmental organizations responsible for protecting the rights of child and adolescent migrants returning to their countries of origin
-
List of Documents about Child Mobility in West Africa
On July 14th 2014 in Dakar, Senegal, a workshop took place between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commissioner in charge of Social Affairs and Gender, a delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the R
-
Jozi Lights: How to protect children engaging in rural to urban migration
By the late 2030s, Africa is set to become a continent with more of its population living in urban than rural areas. Not only do population growth trends in Africa suggest that the sizes of those urban populations will be substantial (by 2100, almost half
-
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants on the Move in Europe: A multi-agency guidance note
An unprecedented number of individuals and families, including increasing numbers of children, have crossed the Mediterranean and Aegean seas in an attempt to reach safety and security in Europe. This guidance note, prepared my multiple agencies, provides
-
Save the Children Sweden's Summer Meeting 2016
August 12-14, 2016, Save the Children Sweden set up a meeting place for unaccompanied minors in the Stockholm region. For three days, they attended workshops and discussion groups where the participants shared their stories about coming to Sweden and also
-
Broken Dreams: Central American children's dangerous journey to the United States
Broken Dreams: Central American children's dangerous journey to the United States shares the obstacles and dangers that children and adolescents face as they journey to the United States. UNICEF reports that in the first six months of 2016, almost 26,000
-
This is Who We Are: A study of the profile, experiences and reasons for flight of unaccompanied and separated children from Afghanistan seeking asylum in Sweden in 2015
Written in collaboration with the Swedish Migration Agency, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) profiled over 240 unaccompanied and separated children, focusing on Afghan children, arriving in Sweden in order to begin addressing the information