As a result of war, poverty and climate change, an increasing number of families are on the move all over the world. An estimate of 30 million children have been displaced due to armed conflicts alone. Often, children are fleeing insecurity on their own, taking on dangerous journeys and routes where they are exposed to threats such as trafficking, sexual exploitation, slavery, violence, and, in cases, torture or other ill-treatment. According to a recent UNICEF survey, 38 percent of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children claim that they have received little to no support while on the move and many of them ended up in detention facilities as an “option” of alternative care.
2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), one of the most widely ratified international human rights treaties. Up to this date, only the United States is yet to become a party to the Convention. The ratification of the CRC comes with the obligation to ensure that children under the age of 18 fully enjoy the rights and freedoms articulated in the Convention.
The CRC contains provisions on the right to life, survival and development; prohibits any kind of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; protects from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse; and articulates the right to appropriate care, healthcare, education and appropriate standards of living.
The framework set out in the treaty is supplemented by other international agreements. The UN Guidelines on Alternative Care were adopted in 2009 to strengthen the protection of orphan and unparented children and to ensure that these children are provided with the most suitable form of alternative care by the state.
While State Parties to the CRC are obliged to report on their progress to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the rights of migrant and refugee children are too often denied. Many countries neglect their obligation to ensure and respect the rights of these children, even though the Committee monitors their development and urges them to act accordingly if they fail to do so. According to many, the United States’ “refusal to ratify the Convention is a blatant disregard for children's rights” in itself.
The data provided by countries in the reporting process are also often inaccurate or even non-existent. As a result, the evidence are frequently based on the testimonies of children. For instance, testimonies of migrant and refugee minors settling in Scotland, Germany, Mexico, Morocco and Ethiopia highlight the lack of support received throughout their journeys, which often results in their inability to trust adults.
The most accurate information is gathered in Europe. A report by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles provides a detailed overview on the rights of refugee children in Europe, which outlines examples in need of further improvement, such as Bulgaria’s failure to appoint legal guardians, the increasing number of child detainees in France, and the “patchy” accommodations in Germany.
While Europe presents more accurate and consistent data, it is still difficult to paint the whole picture of a given country’s situation. However, the continent’s efforts to ensure the rights of migrant and refugee children cannot be compared to the countries where the highest rates of migration are measured. Low income countries, such as Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon and Uganda account for 85 percent of refugees. And yet, these nations receive minimal assistance on how to fulfil the rights of refugee and migrant children, despite the UNCRC’s vision of international cooperation to do so.
Few successes have been achieved concerning the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant and refugee children. Examples of good practices can be presented by the guardianship system set up in Palermo, Sicily, which ensures that each child is appointed with a legal guardian; the alternative care system in Mexico, which provides full support to refugee children from accommodation to the promotion of their integration into the local community; and the immediate registration of unaccompanied children in Ethiopia, which ensures the immediate reunification of families or children’s placement in foster care.
As is often the case, states act as the rights of unaccompanied and separated children cease at their borders, diminishing the few efforts which have been achieved. Refugee and migrant children must be treated with dignity; the international community must ensure their access to education, healthcare and alternative care. Their needs must be assessed through a case-by-case analysis to identify the best form of alternative care possible.
As Chrissie Gale and others highlight “unless the world makes concrete commitments to address these children's rights much more effectively, any celebrations of the Convention's 30th anniversary this year will ring very hollow.” The international principles, knowledge and examples of good practices exist, which provides the basis of recent online course on unaccompanied and separated children on the move. It is time for the international community to ensure that states comply with their obligation to respect and to ensure respect for the rights of the millions of displaced children by ensuring that they are treated like what they deserve: with respect, care and support.