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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
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Results for migrant children
10 results foundAuthor: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Title: Children on the Move Summary: Millions of children are on the move, both within and between countries, with or without their parents. The conditions under which movement takes place are often treacherous, putting migrant children, especially unaccompanied and separated children, at an increased risk of economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence. Policy responses to protect and support these migrant children are often fragmented and inconsistent and while children on the move have become a recognised part of today's global and mixed migration flows they are still largely invisible in debates on both child protection and migration. This publication targets policymakers and practitioners in the field of migration and child protection, along with academics and activists, and sheds light on the situation of migrant children. The publication is the result of a collective effort by a number of specialists from different organizations, was edited by Mike Dottridge (an independent child rights specialist) and includes a foreword by Professor François Crépeau (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants). Table of Contents •Preface •Introduction to six articles by members of the research subgroup of the Inter-Agency Working Group •Children on the move: A different voice •Migrant children in child labour: A vulnerable group in need of attention •Unaccompanied migrant children and legal guardianship in the context of returns: The missing links between host countries and countries of origin •Protecting and supporting children on the move: Translating principles into practice •Challenges faced in protecting children on the move: An NGO perspective •Children’s migration: Towards a multidimensional child protection perspective. Details: Geneva, SWIT: IOM, 2013. 114p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 25, 2013 at: http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41_7&products_id=936 Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41_7&products_id=936 Shelf Number: 128492 Keywords: Child ProtectionImmigration (International)Migrant Children |
Author: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Title: Human Rights Situation of Refugee and Migrant Families and Unaccompanied Children in the United State of America Summary: This report addresses the situation of migrant and refugee families and unaccompanied children arriving to the southern border of the United States of America. It analyzes the context of humanitarian crises that have been taking place over the past several years in the countries of the Northern Triangle in Central America - El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - as well as in Mexico. These crises have been generating increased migration northward, principally to the United States, and to a lesser extent Mexico and Canada. This report offers recommendations geared towards assisting the United States in strengthening its efforts to protect and guarantee the rights of the diverse group of persons in these mixed migratory movements - among them, migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, women, children, families, and other vulnerable persons and groups in the context of human mobility. 2. In recent years, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the "Inter-American Commission," "Commission," or "IACHR"), through its various mechanisms, has documented with concern the increasing number of persons, including children, fleeing various forms of violence in countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America - El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - and Mexico. This violence, along with other factors, such as poverty, inequality, and various forms of discrimination, has led to the current state of humanitarian crises in the region. In its report on the Human Rights of Migrants and Other Persons in the Context of Human Mobility in Mexico (2013), the Commission documented, among other issues, the serious violence, insecurity, and discrimination that migrants in an irregular situation in Mexico encounter, in addition to troubling State responses such as immigration detention and deficiencies in due process guarantees for migrants and other persons in human mobility. In its Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process (2011), the IACHR documented with concern the United States' response to increasing mixed migratory movements. Since the mid-1990s, this response has consisted of stepped up efforts to detect, detain, and deport migrants in an irregular situation. Some of the most dramatic spikes seen yet in the number of arrivals of unaccompanied children and families to the United States occurred between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014 ("U.S. fiscal year 2014"), and specifically in the months of May and June 2014. According to official data, during U.S. fiscal year 2014, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended a total of 68,541 unaccompanied children and 68,445 families, which represented a 77% increase in the number of arrivals of unaccompanied children and a 361% increase in families over fiscal year 2013. The majority of the arrivals of unaccompanied children and families were to the U.S. southwest border and particularly to the Rio Grande Valley of the state of Texas. The Commission considers that this drastic uptick in the number of arrivals signals a worsening human rights situation in the principal countries of origin. Official data shows that the top four countries of origin for both unaccompanied children and families were El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. 4. The IACHR conducted the visit to the U.S. southern border from September 29 - October 2, 2014. The visit was planned and carried out in the context of monitoring the human rights situation of arriving families and unaccompanied children with respect to their apprehension; immigration detention, in many cases over long periods of time; immigration proceedings; as well as deportations and removals. To this end, the Commission visited the Rio Grande Valley area, including McAllen and Harlingen, as well as Karnes City and San Antonio, Texas. 5. According to the information received, families for whom there is capacity at an immigration detention center are automatically and arbitrarily being detained for the duration of the immigration proceedings initiated against them, even in cases where the mother has passed an initial asylum screening. Other information received by the Commission indicated that unaccompanied children of Mexican origin are, in some cases, being turned around before entering U.S. soil (a practice called a 'turn-back") or U.S. officers are failing to correctly identify Mexican unaccompanied children who may have protection needs. While the Commission considers that aspects relating to the overall legal regime in place for unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries are consistent with international standards, it remains concerned over the lack of due process guarantees and access to mechanisms of international protection for these children in immigration proceedings. 6. For all the sub-groups identified herein, the Inter-American Commission is concerned over allegations of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse by U.S. border officials committed while migrant and refugee children and families are in the State's custody as well as the inadequate detention conditions at border and port of entry stations and family immigration detention centers. The Commission is also deeply concerned over expedited processing of these groups and the lack of access to legal representation in the immigration proceedings initiated against them. 7. The Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man constitute sources of legal obligation for OAS Member States including the United States. The organs of the international and regional human rights systems have developed jurisprudence that recognizes the rights of children, families, migrants, and refugees and asylum-seekers. International standards protect the right to equality and non-discrimination, the principle of the best interests of the child, the right to personal liberty, humane treatment during detention, due process and access to justice, consular notification, protection of the family and family life, seek and receive asylum, principle of non-refoulement, and the prohibition on collective expulsions. 8. The IACHR stresses that measures taken to securitize the border will not bring these crises to an end. Rather, the underlying factors generating the crises in the principal countries of origin must be comprehensively addressed. This approach must tackle the poverty, economic and gender inequality, multi-sectorial discrimination, and high levels of violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Without national and regional efforts to address such factors, mixed migratory movements will only continue. Without the ability to migrate safely and through more open or regular channels, these persons will be forced to take even more dangerous and clandestine routes in order to bypass increasingly securitized borders. Such new routes increase the likelihood that persons in the context of human mobility will fall victim to violence and exploitation at the hands of organized crime groups. 9. Based on its close analysis of the situation of migrant and refugee unaccompanied children and families arriving to the southern border of the United States of America, in the present report the Inter-American Commission issues a series of recommendations to the State. The IACHR notes and commends the United States for its sustained efforts to receive and resettle thousands of asylum-seekers and refugees from all over the world, year after year. In light of the State's global position as a leader on protecting the rights of persons in need of international protection, it is the IACHR's hope that the conclusions and recommendations contained in this report will assist it in upholding its human rights obligations and its commitment to serve as a refuge for many thousands of persons each year. In this regard, the Commission urges the State to end its practice of automatic and arbitrary immigration detention of families; to treat Mexican unaccompanied children with the same safeguards and procedures applicable to unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries; to investigate claims of abuses and mistreatment committed by U.S. border agents and to prosecute and punish, where necessary, the agents responsible; to ensure that the best interests of the child principle is the guiding principle in all decisions taken with respect to children, including in immigration proceedings; and to ensure migrant and refugee children and families enjoy due process guarantees and are provided with a lawyer, if needed, at no cost to them if they cannot cover the costs on their own; among other recommendations developed in this report. Details: Washington, DC: The Commission, 2015. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2015 at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Refugees-Migrants-US.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Refugees-Migrants-US.pdf Shelf Number: 137185 Keywords: Immigrant ChildrenImmigration EnforcementMigrant ChildrenRefugeesUndocumented Immigrants |
Author: Georgetown University. Law Center. Human Rights Institute Title: The Cost of Stemming the Tide: How Immigration Enforcement Practices in Southern Mexico Limit Migrant Children's Access to International Protection Summary: The dramatic increase in the number of children migrating from the Northern Triangle countries to Mexico and the United States has garnered international attention. What is more concerning, though, is the lack of protection of the human rights of the children who are migrating. A report published today by the Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute (HRI) finds that Mexico is currently falling short of its human rights obligations and is putting migrant children at risk of being returned to violent and dangerous situations in their home countries by failing to provide adequate access to international protection. The report, The Cost of Stemming the Tide: How Immigration Enforcement Practices in Southern Mexico Limit Migrant Children's Access to International Protection, is the product of months of research, including dozens of interviews with affected children and families, advocates and government officials and agency staff. Many of the Central American children interviewed were seeking asylum in Mexico. The researchers also found that migrant children in Southern Mexico are systematically detained, often in poor conditions, for long and unpredictable periods. Detention conditions - coupled with the prospect of being detained for months while awaiting a decision on their status - deters children from seeking asylum. The United States has invested significant political and fiscal resources in the fortification of Mexico's southern border. But encouraging increased apprehension and deportation of children at Mexico's southern border may come at a significant cost to children's rights. International law requires that countries receiving migrants, like Mexico, meaningfully inform them of their right to seek asylum and provide access to procedures to determine whether they merit asylum or other forms of international protection. Although Mexico's laws, policies, constitutional provisions are meant to guarantee these protections, the report found that they are failing to do so in practice. Details: Washington, DC: Human Rights Institute, 2016. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2016 at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/human-rights-institute/fact-finding/upload/HRI-Fact-Finding-Report-Stemming-the-Tide-Web-PDF_English.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/human-rights-institute/fact-finding/upload/HRI-Fact-Finding-Report-Stemming-the-Tide-Web-PDF_English.pdf Shelf Number: 138536 Keywords: Asylum SeekersChild MigrantsChild ProtectionHuman Rights AbusesImmigrant DetentionMigrant Children |
Author: United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF Title: Uprooted: The Growing Crisis for Refugee and Migrant Children Summary: Around the world, nearly 50 million children have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced. This report presents - for the first time - comprehensive, global data about these children - where they are born, where they move and some of the dangers they face along the way. The report sheds light on the truly global nature of childhood migration and displacement, highlighting challenges faced by child migrants and refugees in every region. Details: New York: UNICEF, 2016. 134p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 8, 2016 at: http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Uprooted_growing_crisis_for_refugee_and_migrant_children.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 140249 Keywords: Child MigrantsChild ProtectionChild RefugeesMigrant ChildrenMigrants |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: "Why Are You Keeping Me Here?" Unaccompanied Children Detained in Greece Summary: Greek authorities registered more than 3,300 unaccompanied asylum-seeking and other migrant children in the first seven months of 2016. Many had fled violence and conflict in their home countries such as Syria and Afghanistan and arrived alone in Greece, their point of entry to the European Union. The country's longstanding shortage of shelter space for children has grown particularly acute in the context of Europe's ongoing refugee crisis. In the absence of sufficient, suitable accommodation, Greek authorities routinely detain unaccompanied children in police stations and detention centers, justifying it as a temporary protection measure in children's best interest. In practice it is anything but. "Why Are You Keeping Me Here?:" Unaccompanied Children Detained in Greece, based on interviews with 42 children, documents the Greek authorities' arbitrary detention of unaccompanied children in unhygienic, degrading conditions in which they are vulnerable to physical abuse, as well as lack of access to care, protection, and other services. The situations documented not only violate children's right to liberty but often constitute inhumane and degrading treatment. The Greek government should put an end to the unjustified detention of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and ensure that there are sufficient and suitable alternatives to detention. The European Union should provide resources to support Greece's efforts. Greece and European Union member states should intensify efforts to relocate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children out of Greece including through family reunification with family members living in other EU countries. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2016. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 14, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/greece0916_web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Greece URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/greece0916_web.pdf Shelf Number: 140282 Keywords: Asylum SeekersChild MigrantsImmigrant DetentionMigrant ChildrenUnaccompanied Children |
Author: De Witte, Iara Title: Vulnerability of Bulgarian and Romanian Children to Trafficking in The Netherlands and in Brussels Summary: The research "Vulnerability of Bulgarian and Romanian Children to Trafficking in The Netherlands and in Brussels (Belgium)" was conducted in the framework of the "Mario II Project", a European project aimed at improving the level of protection of migrant children from Central and South East European (C/SEE) countries who are vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and/or trafficking. This report presents the main findings of the research that consisted of a desk review, supplemented by interviews with stakeholders, case studies, and street observations. Due to limited data on the research target-group available in The Netherlands, field activities were expanded to include the neighbouring city of Brussels in Belgium. Children's involvement in begging-like activities in The Netherlands is very seldom reported, and seems to mostly relate to cases from the past (around the year 2007). There were also no indications of involvement of these children in other economic activities like selling souvenirs to tourists, or other forms of activities. Children's involvement in criminal activities appears to be a tangible problem, which raises several concerns in terms of child protection as well as crime control. However, due to the very nature of these activities (hidden and incidental), it was rather difficult to detect and approach the children involved during the field work. Apparently, most of the children identified in these situations were children from C/SEE countries who were not residing at a permanent address and/or who were (temporarily or permanently) deprived of parental care. Indeed, the research found no indications that children from C/SEE countries who come together with their parents (typically in the framework of general labour migration patterns) were involved or exploited in begging, economic activities or criminal activities. These children can find themselves in socially vulnerable situations, but not to the extent that they fall victim of exploitation. The large majority of children begging in the streets observed by the research team were found in Brussels (Belgium), where this phenomenon is much more visible and frequent than in The Netherlands. Therefore, the majority of children targeted by street observation were located in Belgium. One of the reasons that could explain the different prevalence of the phenomenon of child begging in the two countries targeted relates to a diverse approach undertaken by authorities among the two countries: in The Netherlands, the response from child protection and law enforcement authorities to cases of children begging with adults in the year 2007 was vigorous and apparently had a deterrent effect: by taking the children away from the streets, adults involving them could not rely on an additional source of income, and therefore might have moved to other locations outside the country. In Belgium, begging with children is generally tolerated by authorities, and there is a broader social acceptance of the phenomenon in general, facts that could explain the visible presence of children begging in the city of Brussels. Conversely, both Belgium and The Netherlands have a similar approach to children's involvement in criminal activities (although, however, the approach in Belgium was not subject of in-depth review in the framework of the present study). Similarly, the features and prevalence of this phenomenon appear to be comparable in Belgium and in The Netherlands. The research looked in greater depth at the responses to the involvement of children in begging, economic or criminal activities in The Netherlands. At national level, when it comes to adopting protection measures for migrant children from C/SEE countries, there is some degree of uncertainty about (and overlap among) the applicable child protection measures and competent authorities. Indeed, these children are both EU nationals (fact which triggers the application of protection measures designed for national children) and foreigners (their case thereby falling under the provisions of immigration law). At local level, some cities developed referral systems and standard operating procedures to deal with cases of children involved in begging, economic and criminal activities, entailing a cooperation among law enforcement and child protection authorities. However, several gaps have been identified, which leave many of these children without adequate protection. These gaps concern primarily: the practical and legal impossibility to adopt protection measures when the child's parents do not reside at a permanent address; difficulties in assessing the relationships between the child and his/her (alleged) parent(s); gaps in the identification (and treatment) of children who are trafficked for begging, economic or criminal activities as victims of that crime; children's disappearance from the child protection systems (particularly from temporary alternative care); and difficulties in timely appointing a guardian (and in ensuring a sufficient extension of guardianship provisions). The report recommends to adopt measures aimed to enhance the protection of children involved in begging, economic or criminal activities, to be always guided by rights-based, child-centred considerations. At local level, these measures mainly revolve around assessing in greater depth the relationships between the child and his/her parents or legal guardians, when doubts arise concerning the nature of such relationships. It is also recommended to systematically request the appointment of a guardian in cases of children deprived of adequate parental care. Legal and practical obstacles in intervening to protect children whose parents are not residing at a permanent address should be overcome, and this circumstance (along with the child's lack of school attendance) should be considered as an additional risk factor. At national level, among relevant recommendations, the need to enhance the protection of children involved in begging, economic or criminal activities from neglect and abuse, and particularly from exploitation, in cases where signs of these violations of fundamental children's rights are displayed is of utmost importance. In particular, cases of (potential) child trafficking for exploitation in the above-activities should be promptly detected and (potential) child victims should be referred to existing protection services and treated as children and as victims of a serious crime. The capacity of frontline professionals to identify these cases should be enhanced through regular training, in the framework of clear procedures embedded in the child protection system and in the (developing) national referral mechanisms for trafficked persons in The Netherlands. Children belonging to the most vulnerable groups, particularly those (temporarily) deprived of adequate parental care, and/or not residing at a permanent address in the country, should be effectively reached by child protection services. Clear procedures to identify a durable solution for each child concerned, based on his or her best interests, should be developed, with strict procedural safeguards and involving decision-makers with relevant areas of expertise, allowing a proper balancing of the different relevant factors to be considered. The process should facilitate adequate child participation and explore on equal grounds the possibilities to return the child to his or her country of origin, to allow the child to remain and integrate in The Netherlands, or to reunite the child with his or her family in a third country. Details: Budapest: Mario Project, 2014. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 29, 2016 at: https://www.defenceforchildren.nl/images/13/3733.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Europe URL: https://www.defenceforchildren.nl/images/13/3733.pdf Shelf Number: 140515 Keywords: Child ProstitutionChild Sexual ExploitationChild TraffickingHuman TraffickingMigrant Children |
Author: Digidiki, Vasileia Title: Emergency Within An Emergency: The growing epidemic of sexual exploitation and abuse of migrant children in Greece Summary: The present study analyzes the risk factors responsible for the exposure of migrant and refugee children to physical, psychological, and sexual violence and exploitation in Greece in the context of the ongoing migrant humanitarian crisis. It documents sexual and physical abuse of children inside migrant camps and reports new information about the commercial sexual exploitation of migrant children in the main cities of Greece. This research also explores the existing gaps and challenges in intervention efforts that contribute to victimization of migrant children. This study was conducted using rapid assessment methodology, combining qualitative research with in situ observation. Data collection was completed in late November 2016 in four sites in Greece- namely, the islands of Lesvos and Chios and the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. These areas were chosen because they host large migrant populations, facilities, and camps. The conclusions are based on 24 key informant and stakeholder interviews with on-site participants who work closely with migrant children and are thus qualified to comment on the conditions inside migrant facilities and camps. For ethical and security considerations, no direct interviews with migrant children or adults were conducted. This report highlights the following six major risk factors: (1) insufficient number of specialized facilities for children; (2) risky living conditions inside camps; (3) potentially hazardous and unsupervised commingling of migrant children with the adult migrant population; (4) weak and insufficiently resourced child protection systems; (5) lack of coordination and cooperation among responsible actors; and (6) an inefficient and radically inadequate relocation scheme. The report describes the context where migrant children are exposed to and become victims of physical, psychological, and sexual violence inside migrant facilities and camps in the studied geographic areas. In particular, it analyzes five key aspects related to the commercial sexual exploitation of migrant children: (1) prevalence of the phenomenon; (2) profile of the victims; (3) mechanisms of recruitment and victimization; (4) role of purchasers of migrant child sex; and (4) impact of the exploitation on the victims. Participants working with migrant children underscore the complex and multifaceted nature of the phenomenon and highlight the negative influence of institutional, legislative, individual, family, and societal factors and conditions that contribute to the endangerment of migrant children. On-site participants also identify a cascade of socio-psychological and mental health symptoms evidenced by affected migrant children; these symptoms correlate with the children's reduced resilience and increased vulnerability to re-victimization. On-site participants further confirm that the criminal nature of the phenomenon seriously impacts prevention efforts, resulting in numerous missed opportunities to provide an effective safety net for migrant children. State child protection systems, in particular, have far failed to adapt to the reality of the situation. Furthermore, the report analyses the significant gaps in both government and nongovernmental responses to the current child migrant situation. The results emphasize an immediate and urgent need for substantially improved child protection policy and practice, including recruiting and training qualified staff and improving coordination and case management. The report concludes with recommendations that address the complexity of the current humanitarian emergency. As a whole, the results call for flexible and well-informed prevention measures to address the many interconnected factors driving child migrant vulnerability. In view of the deterioration of the political climate for refugee and migrant populations in Europe and other parts of the world, national and international stakeholders should come together to ensure adequate prevention measures, as well as to create safe and legal paths to migration for migrant children in acute need of protection. This report is a first step towards documenting the many and severe risks faced by migrant children in Greece. The ultimate aim is to influence current policy towards migrant children in Greece and to pave the way for future research to better understand and eliminate sexual abuse and exploitation of migrant children caught up in this humanitarian crisis. Details: Cambridge, MA: FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, 2017. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 20, 2017 at: https://cdn2.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/04/Emergency-Within-an-Emergency-FXB.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Greece URL: https://cdn2.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/04/Emergency-Within-an-Emergency-FXB.pdf Shelf Number: 145058 Keywords: Child Sexual AbuseChild Sexual ExploitationMigrant ChildrenRefugee Children |
Author: UNICEF Title: A Child is a child: Protecting children on the move from violence, abuse and exploitation Summary: Millions of children are on the move across international borders - fleeing violence and conflict, disaster or poverty, in pursuit of a better life. Hundreds of thousands move on their own. When they encounter few opportunities to move legally, children resort to dangerous routes and engage smugglers to help them cross borders. Serious gaps in the laws, policies and services meant to protect children on the move further leave them bereft of protection and care. Deprived, unprotected, and often alone, children on the move can become easy prey for traffickers and others who abuse and exploit them. Alarming numbers of children are moving alone Many children move alone and face particularly grave risks. In parts of the world, the number of children moving on their own has skyrocketed. On the dangerous Central Mediterranean Sea passage from North Africa to Europe, 92 per cent of children who arrived in Italy in 2016 and the first two months of 2017 were unaccompanied, up from 75 per cent in 2015. At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children moving across borders were registered in 80 countries in 2015-2016 0- a near five-fold increase from 66,000 in 2010-2011. The total number of unaccompanied and separated children on the move worldwide is likely much higher. Specific reasons motivate children to undertake journeys alone. Many seek to reunite with family members already abroad. Others pursue their families' aspirations for this generation to have a better life. Perceptions of the potential benefits of children moving, especially to certain destinations, filter through social networks. Other factors include family breakdown, domestic violence, child marriage and forced conscription. Without safe and legal pathways, children's journeys are rife with risk and exploitation Whatever their motivation, children often find few opportunities to move legally. Family reunification, humanitarian visas, refugee resettlement spots, and work or study visas are out of reach for most. But barriers to legal migration do not stop people from moving, they only push them underground. Wherever families and children desperate to move encounter barriers, smuggling in human beings thrives. Smugglers range from people helping others in need for a fee to organized criminal networks that deliver children into hazardous and exploitative situations. Once children and families place their fates in the hands of smugglers, the transaction can readily take a turn towards abuse or exploitation - especially when children and families incur debts to pay smugglers' fees. Europol estimates that 20 per cent of suspected smugglers on their radar have ties to human trafficking - they help children cross borders, only to sell them into exploitation, sometimes akin to contemporary forms of slavery. Some routes are particularly rife with risks. In a recent International Organization for Migration survey, over three-quarters of 1,600 children aged 14-17 who arrived in Italy via the Central Mediterranean route reported experiences such as being held against their will or being forced to work without pay at some point during their journeys - indications that they may have been trafficked or otherwise exploited. Traffickers and other exploiters thrive especially where state institutions are weak, where organized crime abounds, and also where migrants become stuck and desperate. Details: New York: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2017. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2017 at: https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/UNICEF_A_child_is_a_child_May_2017_EN.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/UNICEF_A_child_is_a_child_May_2017_EN.pdf Shelf Number: 145948 Keywords: Child Abuse and NeglectChild MaltreatmentChild ProtectionChild Sexual ExploitationChildren Exposed to ViolenceHuman SmugglingHuman TraffickingMigrant ChildrenOrganized CrimeUnaccompanied Children |
Author: Peck, Sarah Herman Title: The "Flores Settlement" and Alien Families Apprehended at the U.S. Border: Frequently Asked Questions Summary: Reports of alien minors being separated from their parents at the U.S. border have raised questions about the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) authority to detain alien families together pending the aliens' removal proceedings, which may include consideration of claims for asylum and other forms of relief from removal. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) authorizes-and in some case requires-DHS to detain aliens pending removal proceedings. However, neither the INA nor other federal laws specifically address when or whether alien family members must be detained together. DHS's options regarding the detention or release of alien families are significantly restricted by a binding settlement agreement from a case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California now called Flores v. Sessions. The "Flores Settlement" establishes a policy favoring the release of alien minors, including accompanied alien minors, and requires that those alien minors who are not released from government custody be transferred within a brief period to non-secure, state-licensed facilities. DHS indicates that few such facilities exist that can house adults and children together. Accordingly, under the Flores Settlement and current circumstances, DHS asserts that it generally cannot detain alien children and their parents together for more than brief periods. Following an executive order President Trump issued that addressed alien family separation, the Department of Justice filed a motion to modify the Flores Settlement to allow for the detention of alien families in unlicensed facilities for longer periods. The district court overseeing the settlement rejected that motion, much as it has rejected similar motions to modify the settlement filed by the government in recent years. (The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed the earlier rulings but has not yet reviewed the most recent ruling.) In its most recent motion, the government has argued, among other things, that a preliminary injunction entered in a separate litigation, Ms. L v. ICE, which generally requires the government to reunite separated alien families and refrain from separating families going forward, supports a modification of the Flores Settlement to allow indefinite detention of alien minors alongside their parents. On a separate track, DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced that they intend to seek termination of the Flores Settlement through the promulgation of new regulations that, according to the agencies, would adopt the substantive terms of the agreement with certain modifications. Significantly, the proposed regulations would allow DHS to detain families together until immigration proceedings were completed by creating an alternative federal licensing scheme for family residential centers. That federal scheme would impose facility standards that purport to mimic the standards set forth in the Flores Settlement, which calls for the exclusive use of state-licensed facilities for the detention of minors. A legal dispute seems likely to arise over whether the proposed regulations adequately implement the Flores Settlement, including whether the regulations are consistent with the agreement's general policy favoring the release of minors from immigration custody. Congress, for its part, could largely override the Flores Settlement legislatively, although constitutional considerations relating to the rights of aliens in immigration custody may inform the permissible scope and effect of such legislation. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: R45297: Accessed March 7, 2019 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R45297.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R45297.pdf Shelf Number: 154839 Keywords: Detained Children Flores Settlement Immigrant Detention Immigration EnforcementImmigration Policy Migrant Children Unaccompanied Migrant Children |
Author: Scarpa, Silvia Title: Child Trafficking: the Worst Face of the World Summary: The purpose of this article is to offer an overview on child trafficking; it briefly analyses the global phenomenon of trafficking in human beings and focuses on the major regional trends in child trafficking and the international response to this phenomenon. As regards the latter, an overview of international treaty law, soft law instruments and special mechanisms will underline the positive aspects of, as well as existing gaps in, the protection of child victims of human trafficking.The issue of trafficking in persons, and particularly in children, can be investigated from various points of view; trafficking is a criminal, a moral, a migration, a human rights, a public order, a labour and a gender issue. However, for the scope of this study it will only be analysed from a human rights perspective. Details: Geneva: Global Commission on International Migration, 2005. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: GLOBAL MIGRATION PERSPECTIVES No. 40: Accessed July 2, 2019 at: http://lastradainternational.org/lsidocs/484%20Working%20Paper-Child%20THB-SSUP2005.pdf Year: 2005 Country: International URL: http://lastradainternational.org/lsidocs/484%20Working%20Paper-Child%20THB-SSUP2005.pdf Shelf Number: 105468 Keywords: Child Labor Child Pornography Child Prostitution Child Trafficking Human Trafficking Migrant ChildrenUnaccompanied Minors |