Children on the move: Protecting unaccompanied migrant children in South Africa and the region

The report focuses on South Africa and its response to unaccompanied migrant children. The report challenges the common understanding that child migration entails trafficking and refugee movement and demonstrates that children often cross borders unaccompanied, as a survival strategy. It is based on a small but significant body of research undertaken by Save the Children from 2003 to 2007. The research allows us to identify common push-pull factors for unaccompanied child migration in the region, as well as the key factors in these children’s migration stories that render the children, who are often already at risk, even more vulnerable. The countries involved include Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.