and the Construction of Vulnerability - Child Trafficking

Foreword
This report, “Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability”, is the first
report on migration which attempts to look beyond the current emphasis of child
migration (mainly trafficking of children for sexual purposes, unaccompanied asylum
seekers and refugee children), to consider the broader context including when
and why migration violates the rights of the child. It looks at factors that prompt
children to leave their country, problems and risks when they are in transition and
their experiences in the country of destination.
The report was commissioned as a desk study in order to find out the current availability
of knowledge about the issue and to what extent existing knowledge was analysed
from the perspective of the migrant child. It was presented for the first time
at the conference “Focus on Children in Migration” (Warsaw, Poland March 2007),
when child rights agencies and academic researchers, mainly from Europe, came
together to discuss resent findings on children and migration.
This study has shown that there is a need for better research on children in migration.
Many reports are available on migration in general but rarely integrate the consequences
of migration for children. This study also highlights that the discourse on
the migrant child has to be modified and balanced recognizing that children are not
always victims in their situation and that it should more often be recognized that
migration can lead to positive outcomes for a child. Needless to say, international
norms on the rights of the child are more demanding than some governments may
have expected when they agreed to them.
We hope that this report will create further discussion and trigger curiosity and
more research. The combination of Save the Children Sweden’s partnership with
representatives from the civil society working directly with children and researchers/academia
create a strong alliance for enhanced reality based knowledge in
order to advocate for policy change.
Britta Öström
Save the Children Sweden’s Regional Representative
Europe
Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability
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