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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
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Journey to My Dreams- Child migration in Thailand
This short documentary, by Terre des Hommes, introduces child migration in Thailand. Often coming from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, children travel to the cities of Thailand in search of work. They are often unaccompanied and so far little is known about
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Rights of Migrant Women and Girls: A child rights perspective
This paper is part of a series of bridging papers looking at different points of the 5-year Action Plan for Collaboration from a child rights perspective. It analyses the gender dimension in migration, whether women or girls have migrated themselves or re
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Falling between the cracks: How poverty and migration are resulting in inadequate care for children living in Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta- Full Report
This report investigates the relationships between poverty, migration, and child well-being in the An Giang province of Viet Nam. Internal, rural-to-urban migration exists in Viet Nam and, coupled with a complex household registration system, has resulted
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CONNECT
Identifying good practices in, and improving, the connections between actors involved in reception, protection and integration of unaccompanied children in Europe Save the Children Sweden together with UNHCR’s Bureau for Europe, NIDOS (NL), Coram Children
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Situation Analysis of Children on the Move in Poland
This research was conducted as part of the Maria Project: Joint action to protect Central and South Eastern European migrant children from abuse, exploitation and trafficking in Europe. The main goal of this research was to assess the situation of childre
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Haciendo visible lo invisible: Aproximaciones, experiencias y buenas práctica para la protección de niñas, niños y adolescentes contra la trata con fines de explotación laboral en Mercosur y Centroamérica
Haciendo visible lo invisible (Making visible the invisible) is a manual that includes approaches, experiences, and best practices for the protection of children and adolescents from trafficking for labor exploitation in Central America and Mercosur.
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Analysis of the Situation of Children on the Move: assessing the capacity and the adequacy of the child protection system in Hungary to ensure the protection of children on the move. Mario Project Research Report
The main objective of this Mario research was to analyze good practices and gaps of the Hungarian Child Protection System (CPS) in relation to children on the move. The report is based on a desk research and qualitative methods according to “Mario Methodo
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Den Okända Vägen
This film shares the stories of four adolescent boys' journeys to Sweden. They travelled from Iran as well as Afghanistan; in this film, they tell of the many dangers and trials they overcame to reach Sweden. This film was produced by Save the Children S
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See me, ask me, hear me: children's recommendations for recovery three months after Typhoon Haiyan
Typhoon Haiyan, known locally in the Philippines as typhoon Yolanda, was the deadliest rapid-onset disaster globally in 2013. Nearly 6 million children have been affected, 4.1 million people remain displaced and over 6,000 people lost their lives. This re
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Modern Mobility: The role of ICTs in child and youth migration
"Modern Mobility: the role of ICTs in child and youth migration” presents an overview of how children and youth on the move are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) of their own accord. It takes a look at:- how children and youth are us
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Children on the Move: Status and programmes of support and protection of children on the move in the Republic of Serbia
Although children and young people comprise a large share of all migrants in Serbia, state protection in this field is still minimal, according to this report, launched by Atina, Grupa 484, and Fund for Open Society, three NGOs working in collaboration wi
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Girls on the Move: Adolescent Girls & Migration in the Developing World
This publication is the first of its kind to examine the social and economic determinants of internal migration for adolescent girls in developing countries, and to identify the links between migration, risk, and opportunity. A wide range of knowledge on