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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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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
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Children on the Move: Honduras
Save the Children partners with the Government (DINAF), Municipal and Civil Society Institutions, to build their personnel’s capacity on the Integral Attention for Children and Adolescents, especially the Migrant Population. Save the Children also coordin
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Children on the Move: Guatemala
Save the Children works with returned children and adolescents in vulnerable situations. Save the Children also collaborate with leaders, families and teachers from communities with the largest number of emigrating minors. Save the Children focuses on pro
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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
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I Play, I Learn and I'm Safe: Project brief
I Play, I Learn and I’m Safe is a Save the Children programme for preventing unsafe migration of children in Ethiopia and Bangladesh by promoting protection, education and play for children on the move. This one-pager briefly presents the programme proces
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Children on the Move: A crisis in the Northern Triangle, Mexico and USA
In the past two years, there has been a considerable increase in the number of unaccompanied children and adolescents from the Northern Triangle who migrate to the USA, and in the number of migrant families with children, particularly young women with chi
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The Journey of Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Children Across the Andaman Sea
This report reviews the maritime movements of refugees and migrants across South East Asia, focusing on refugee and asylum-seeking children and their experiences in countries of origin, transit and destination. This journey typically begins in Myanmar and
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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
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Barns egna asylskäl: Om rätten att bli sedd som individ
Children have rights, the same as adults, yet they also have particular rights as children. This also applies to asylum-seeking children. These children can have the same reasons for seeking asylum as an adult, but also for reasons relevant to being a chi
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Hear it From the Children- on the move and arriving in Norway
This study documents the experiences and views of children who have fled their country and are seeking asylum in Norway. Through talking and listening to children on the move, the Hear it from the Children initiative brings forward children’s unique persp
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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
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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