and the Construction of Vulnerability - Child Trafficking

cent. Domestic violence data from Colombia, Nicaragua and Peru, show that
migrant women are less likely to seek assistance from the police and health facilities
compared to their native counterparts. Research in the United States shows migrant
women tend to stay in abusive relationships longer than native-born Americans and
suffer graver physical and emotional consequences as a result. 123 There is no reason
to suppose that children fare better than their mothers in such circumstances.
Migrants’ reluctance to seek assistance from the authorities often links to their
experience of discrimination on grounds of race and ethnicity. For example, the
report on Roma children in Russia mentioned above also details serious violations
of the rights of the child in family relationships, but given that the police are amongst
those who harass and assault Roma people, 124 women and child victims of domestic
violence are hardly likely to turn to them for help. Moreover, “Women with children
who migrate as dependents of their husbands are often unfairly forced to choose
between their own personal safety and maintaining their legal status”. 125
6.3 Immigration Controls and Violations of Children’s
Rights
A powerful critique of U.S. immigration law points out that it reflects and reinforces
outdated and discredited approaches to children’s rights, simultaneously limiting
children’s recognition as persons and silencing their voices. 126 In immigration law,
the term “child” is used exclusively in relationship to a parent. This reflects notions
of the child as property, “It accepts the idea that children are not independent beings
but rather are always bound to someone. Parental possession and control… are the
hallmarks of a parent-child relationship in immigration law”. It follows that when
children migrate in a family setting, they are “conceived as objects rather than actors,
and their voices are largely ignored”, but when they migrate without their families
(and so lack a parent to make them a “child”), they are “subject to the same harsh
laws and procedural complexities as adults”. 127
The CRC obliges state parties to prevent exploitation of children and to provide
assistance for those who have been exploited, including each and every aspect of
“child trafficking” no matter how it is defined. Migratory situations affecting children,
including exploitation, as well as policy responses to them must be assessed
with reference to the CRC as a whole, taking into account the indivisibility and interrelation
of rights. This means, for example, that provisions on economic and social
rights are as important as possible criminal justice measures under provisions on protection
from economic exploitation and harmful work, sexual exploitation, abduction,
sale and traffic of children. In accordance with the guiding principle of nondiscrimination
(Art 2), these rights must be ensured and respected for every child,
123. UNFPA, 2006
124. FIDH, 2007
125. UNFPA, 2006
126. Thronson, 2002
127. Ibid, pp. 5-6
40
Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability