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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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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
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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
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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
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BARN: Värld på Flykt. Nr 2, 2015
This edition of Save the Children Sweden's quarterly magazine "Barn" examines the lives of those families and children who live in refugee camps as a result of the conflict in Syria. It also discusses the question of boat migration via the Mediterranean S
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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
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Labour Rights for Migrant Workers: 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. The aim was to examine the specificities affecting children in the context of migration and inform m
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Regional Policy Review Report and Guidelines: Migration and Repatriation laws and Procedures for Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe
The movement of unaccompanied children in Southern Africa remains a great concern, both for countries which children migrate from and those to which children migrate to. Save the Children is particularly concerned that there is an absence or poor implemen
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The Child's Right to Quality Care: Review of the implementation of the United Nations guidelines for the alternative care of children in Western Balkan countries
This review of the Implementation of the United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in the Western Balkan Countries provides information on the capacities and efforts of the Republic of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in
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Understanding and applying a systems approach to child protection: a guide for programme staff
This guide aims at assisting programme staff in transitioning from programmes that focus on specific thematic issues or that target certain groups of children to programmes that address child protection through a systems lens. Amongst child protection org
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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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Detained Youth: The fate of young migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya today
This study provides information on the current and ongoing detention of young migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya. Through in-depth interviews with former detainees, serious violations are revealed to have occurred in Libya’s immigration detent
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Att Möta Barn: Psykologernas tips till dig som möter barn på flykt
Psychologists from Save the Children Sweden talk about how to meet children on the move, child refugees, or children who have experienced trauma. In this series of four videos, psychologists talk about trauma, safety, feelings, and the need for healthy re