Our previous blog entry briefly presented the 4 guiding principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the importance of its application in migratory contexts. This article focuses on offering practical recommendations for the protection of migrant children.

The attention of migrant children from a human rights perspective entails the recognition of children and adolescents as subjects of rights. It should be considered that situations such as being an unaccompanied migrant, separated from their family or in an irregular migratory situation can pose specific challenges for the protection of migrant children. The migratory authorities and directors of the childhood sector must design interventions and preventive actions that allow to reduce the risks of violence, promoting at the same time the integral development of children in all stages of the migratory process.

The different experiences, conditions and needs of children and adolescents must also be analyzed and taken into account. Avoid thinking of children as a homogeneous group. For example, the age of the child has important implications for the services and attention it requires. The ethnic group or origin to which they belong can also present significant challenges to establish communication, identify their protection needs and guarantee their access to information about the migratory process, especially if their native language is different from the countries of transit and destination. Similarly, an unaccompanied child has different experiences from those who travel with their families. Other factors, such as having experienced violence along the route, as well as belonging to minority groups could place migrant children with higher associated risks of violence and in this sense demand from the authorities differentiated responses.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

In many cases, the particular needs and rights of migrant children and adolescents are not adequately addressed by the systems of migration governance and child protection due to the lack of coordination and cooperation. IOM offers 4 recommendations to strengthen the services and attention provided to migrant children.

  1. Promote a comprehensive approach in national child protection systems, as well as access to basic services for migrant children. The actions carried out must prioritize the prevention of violence, exploitation and abuse, promote the collaboration between various national and international actors. In this area, it is important to guarantee the access of child protection systems to migrant children in the same conditions as any national child, avoiding the creation of a parallel care system. Likewise, attention must be given to basic services at all points of the migratory cycle, especially to health facilities, safe lodging, education, legal advice, recreation, participation, protection, social security, health and psychosocial attention.
  2. Protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse during the immigration process. Children must be identified as soon as they come into contact with immigration authorities. Migration officials should receive training to identify indicators of vulnerability linked to trafficking, trauma and exploitation. In addition, discrimination and xenophobia must be combated in countries of transit and destination.
  3. Advocate for alternatives to detention. Detention for immigration reasons is contrary to the best interest of children and, even if it occurs for very short periods, has severe repercussions on the welfare and psychosocial development of the minor. Detention must not be justified by the child's immigration status or by the fact of being an unaccompanied minor.
  4. Strengthen the protection of children and friendly procedures for voluntary return and reintegration processes. The opinion of children and adolescents must be heard in processes aimed at determining the best interests of the child. The return must be made only after completing a tracking and assessment of the family, confirming the identity of the parents or guardian, the size of the family nucleus, the composition, its dynamics and the socioeconomic and health conditions of its members, as well as indicators of possible abuse or neglect, or participation in trafficking networks.

The practices previously described demonstrate the need for greater collaboration between government institutions specialized in childhood and migration to respond to the challenges associated with the protection of migrant children. Likewise, more training is required to identify protection needs and design solutions for all stages of the migratory process of this population.

If you are interested in deepening your knowledge about the protection of migrant children, IOM and the Inter-American Children's Institute have developed the "Specialized Course on Migrant Children in the Americas", which is free of charge through the Learning Platform on Migrant Children.

For more information please contact: 

Alexandra Bonnie, Regional Program of the IOM Mesoamerica, Email: abonnie@iom.int

Esteban de la Torre Ribadeneira, Inter-American Institute of Children, Girls and Adolescents, Email: edelatorre@iinoea.or