and the Construction of Vulnerability - Child Trafficking

dominantly comprised of child migrants from African countries caring for parents. ix
It could well be that significant numbers of migrant children both in the UK and
other EU countries are caring for parents and/or siblings with serious illness.
6.2 Racist, Ethnic and Xenophobic Discrimination,
Harassment and Violence
Though not all migrant populations are exposed to racist, ethnic or xenophobic discrimination,
harassment and violence, many migrant groups are. Whether children
have migrated independently or with their parents, those who belong to groups that
are subject to these forms of oppression are vulnerable to a wide array of rights violations,
up to and including the right to life itself.
A recent report on the violation of the rights of Roma children in the Russian
Federation documents brutal attacks on Roma adults and children by neo-Nazi skinheads
in St Petersburg, attacks to which the police frequently turn a blind eye. The
report further shows that Roma children’s access to education is impeded by fear of
racist attacks and by the extreme poverty of many of the Roma families (itself related
to discrimination). Those who are able to attend school are segregated and provided
with poorer facilities and care than that provided for Russian children. Segregation
is justified through reference to “the different levels of personal hygiene of
Russian and Roma children…” which is linked with the actual segregation and discrimination
against Roma in this region. 119
To varying degrees, children from other migrant groups in other countries experience
similar rights violations. Mexican migrants in the United States have died in arson
attacks on their homes; 120 Albanian children living in an orphanage in a southern Italian
town have been attacked by a mob of 500 locals carrying rocks and clubs and crying
“Lynch the Albanians”; 121 and Romanian Roma children living in London report
experiencing police harassment and other forms of discrimination. 122 It is, however,
extremely difficult to analytically separate the effects of violence, discrimination and
harassment on grounds of race, ethnicity and nationality from those of immigration
regimes that construct some migrants as “illegal” and/or otherwise deny migrants
rights that citizens enjoy, or from the effects of economic disadvantage.
Rights to protection from domestic violence, for example, can be compromised
by a combination of discriminatory attitudes and beliefs on the part of authorities
that should provide protection, and the insecure legal status of undocumented
migrants. Research suggests that in some settings, domestic violence among migrant
groups is markedly higher than in the population more generally. In the United
States, it is estimated that 22.1 per cent of the general population experience sexual
or physical violence in the home during their lifetime, but that rates of abuse against
migrant women from Latin America, South Asia and Korea range from 30 to 50 per
119. FIDH, 2007
120. Cienfuegos, 2007
121. Calavita, 2004, p. 133
122. Ureche, Manning and Franks, 2005
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