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"We will protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all refugee and migrant children, regardless of their status, and giving primary consideration at all times to the best interests of the child. This will apply particularly to unaccompanied children and those separated from their families; we will refer their care to the relevant national child protection authorities and other relevant authorities.
We will comply with our obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We will work to provide for basic health, education, and psychosocial development and for the registration of all births on our territories. We are determined to ensure that all children are in education within a few months of arrival, and we will prioritize budgetary provision to facilitate this, including support for host countries as required. We will strive to provide refugee and migrant children with a nurturing environment for the full realization of their rights and capabilities."
New York Declaration from the
High-Level Summit t
o address large movements of refugees and migrants.
September 19, 2016, Section. 2.11.
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FOCUS ON MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
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This edition focuses on the UN General Assembly high level plenary meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants, and the Leader's Summit on Refugee that were held on the 19th and 20th September in New York. It brings together the outcome documents and other relevant resources recently published to highlight the situations of children and families who are migrants and refugees. It underlines the importance and relevance of these initiatives and resources to children's care, and by doing so, hopes to encourage a greater focus on the implications of migration and refugee movements to children's care.
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Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, opening the UN Summit for
Refugees and Migrants
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United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants
This Political Declaration is the outcome document from the United Nations General Assembly High-level Plenary Meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants held on the 19th September 2016. The Declaration was drafted through intergovernmental negotiations that included input from UN Agencies and civil society organizations. In it,
Member States endorse a set of commitments which apply to both refugees and migrants and also sets of commitments for refugees and migrants respectively.
Member States recognize and agree to address the human rights and special needs of all vulnerable migrants and refugees, including children, with special attention to those traveling unaccompanied or separated from their families. In particular, the Declaration states that Member States "will consider
developing non-binding guiding principles and voluntary guidelines, consistent with international law, on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations (especially unaccompanied and separated children) who do not qualify for international protection as refugees and who may need assistance. These guiding principles and guidelines will be developed using a State-led process with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders and with input from the Special Representative of the Secretary General on International Migration, the International Organization for Migration, OHCHR, UNHCR and other relevant UN entities. These would complement national efforts to protect and assist migrants."
The Declaration contains two key documents: Annex I contains a
Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework
and outlines steps toward the achievement of
a Global Compact on refugees in 2018
, while Annex II sets out steps towards the achievement of
a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in 2018.
The Declaration states that
a comprehensive refugee response should be developed and initiated by UNHCR in close coordination with relevant States, including host countries, and involving other relevant UN entities, for each situation involving large movements of refugees. Such a Framework is provided as Annex I which forms part of the Declaration.
Within the Framework Member States agree that receiving states in cooperation with UNHCR would,
"use the registration process to identify specific assistance needs and protection arrangements, where appropriate, including (but not exclusively) for refugees with special protection concerns, for unaccompanied children and children separated from their families, for child-headed and single-parent households, as well as for refugees with disabilities and older persons."
The Framework sets out a process for the development and
adoption in 2018 of a Global Compact on refugees, based on the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and on the outcomes of that process.
The document sets out a process of intergovernmental negotiations leading to the adoption of a
Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration that would set out a range of principles, commitments and understandings among UN Member States regarding international migration in all its dimensions. The Global Compact would address the
"effective protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, especially women and children, regardless of their migratory status; the specific needs of migrants in vulnerable situations".
A migration report from Mr. Peter D. Sutherland, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Migration is being prepared in which he will suggest policies and initiatives that will a) respond to movements caused by crisis, an
d protect vulnerable migrants; b) give people the chance to migrate in an orderly, safe and regular way; c) reduce the human and financial costs of migration; d) and strengthen the UN's capacity to manage this phenomenon.
This report by the UN Secretary General provides background and recommendations in preparation for the high level plenary meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants, held on 19 September 2016.
Also on the margins of the General Assembly, on 20 September 2016, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, hosted the Leaders' Summit on Refugees, alongside co-hosts Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden.
The event sought to galvanize significant new global commitments to: 1) increase funding to humanitarian appeals and international organizations, 2) admit more refugees through resettlement or other legal pathways, and 3) increase refugees' self-reliance and inclusion through opportunities for education and legal work.
The statement notes the lack of a
"routine mechanism [...] to facilitate voluntary responsibility-sharing for refugees" and commits those States to supporting the development of
a Global Compact on Responsibility Sharing for Refugees.
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| LATEST RESEARCH AND RESOURCES ON MIGRANT AND REFUGEE CHILDREN AND THEIR CARE |
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In this new report UNICEF notes that nearly 50 million children have migrated across borders or have been forcibly displaced. The report highlights that migrating and displaced children are at the most risk for some of the worst forms of abuse
and harm, and that supporting displaced and
migrant children is a shared responsi
bility
.
UNICEF calls for an e
nd to the detention of children seeking refugee status or migrating and the introduction of practical alternatives, including guarantors or bailees who may be family members or community supporters; foster care and supervised independent living for unaccompanied and separated children. It also advocate for keeping families together a
s the best way to protect children and give children legal status.
These migrants and refugees make up the fastest growing population in the world. According to the organization, if it continues to grow at this rate, it would be equivalent to the 5th largest country in the world. It is one of the youngest populations in the world, with half its population under 18, and it ranks close to last in the world on school attendance.
Position Paper on Migrant and Refugee Children
In this position paper, SOS Children's Villages provides recommendations on how governments and organizations can support vulnerable children who are migrants and refugees. It
lists ten recommendations to ensure proper care and treatment for children, including: protecting "
every child's right to quality care, regardless of migration status by a) preventing unnecessary family separation; b) grant guardianship to migrant and refugee children deprived of their families; c) increase support of and remove barriers to family reunification; d) devise and return policies that prioritise the best interest of the child; d) provide quality family and community-based care to unaccompanied and separated children; e) use ICTs and other tools to help displaced people maintain contacts with their family".
Ending Child Immigration Detention
This report from the Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) to End Child Immigration Detention, states that the immigration detention of children represents a serious threat to children, and a growing body of UN, regional, and domestic human rights experts have called upon States to "expeditiously and completely" end the practice.
This document is a summary of the Inter-Agency Working Group to End Child Immigration Detention Report. This article provides a summary of normative and policy developments that reflect the growing consensus and acknowledgement from the international community regarding immigrant detention. It highlights the issues specified the report and emphasizes the key issues surrounding immigration detention.
This report produced by UNHCR aims to support governments to end the detention of asylum-seekers and refugees. The goals proposed in this document are to: a) end the detention of children; b) ensure that alternatives to detention are available in law and implemented in practice; and c) ensure that conditions of detention, where detention is necessary and unavoidable, meet international standards.
Research Watch: Children on the Move
An estimated 50 million children are on the move in the world today. Millions more have been deeply affected by migration. The need for solid evidence to develop better policies on child migration has never been greater. This edition of Research Watch from UNICEF's Office of Research- Innocenti brings together leading thinkers for insightful discussion on the research agenda for children on the move.
This detailed study by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which tracks forced displacement worldwide based on data from governments, partner agencies and UNHCR's own reporting, found a total 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, compared to 59.5 million just 12 months earlier. Children made up an astonishing 51 per cent of the world's refugees in 2015, according to the data UNHCR was able to gather. Many were separated from their parents or traveling alone.
This report by Women's Link Worldwide tells the stories of twelve women who fled the bombings and violence in Syria only to end up trapped in Piraeus, Greece, deprived of their most basic rights. The women talked about their lives, their fears, and their attempts to care for and protect their children under desperate conditions.
This report by Save the Children Australia and UNICEF Australia explores the human, economic and strategic cost of Australia's current policies which seek to deter asylum seekers from migrating to Australia by sea.
Children on the Move: A Crisis in the Northern Triangle, Mexico and the USA
This is an at-a-glance look at the migration and refugee situation in the U.S., Mexico, and the Northern Triangle of Central America. The document contains general demographic data, as well as an overview of the potential threats that children face in the Nothern Triangle.
Reaching and Investing in Children at the Margins: Workshop Summary
This report summarizes the activities of the
Workshop
"Reaching and Investing in Children at the Margins," organized by
Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally (iYCG Forum).
Individual workshop participants sought to bring to the foreground a scientific perspective of children at the margins, and explore how discrimination and social exclusion affect early development, focusing on vulnerable populations such as children living outside of family care; children from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds such as Roma; children with developmental delays and disabilities; and refugee, immigrant, and migrant children.
This article presents a systematic review of the existing knowledge of the situation of recently arrived refugee children in the host country. This research is based on the General Comment No. 14 of UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. It shows the importance of knowing the type and number of stressful life events a refugee child has experienced before arrival, as well as the duration and severity of these events.
Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that refugees arriving in Australia are being treated inhumanely and abusively. According to the report, "
around 1,200 men, women, and children who sought refuge in Australia, were forcibly transferred to the remote Pacific island nation of Nauru, (and) suffer severe abuse, inhumane treatment, and neglect."
No Future for our Children: Challenges faced by foreign minors living in South Africa
This paper highlights the difficulties faced by foreign minors and how the gaps in law leave them undocumented, vulnerable and unable to access social services. This paper also discusses how South Africa's approach to accompanied and unaccompanied foreign minor children provides no durable long term solutions for these children, effectively leaving them in a legal hole once they reach the age of majority.
This article reports on a study which involved a survey of all foreign-born children placed in child and youth care centers across South Africa's Western Cape Province. The study examines the intersection between migration law and children's rights. It maps and quantifies the number of foreign-born children placed in child youth care centers around the Western Cape of South Africa. The study also investigates the reasons for migration and the circumstances around child placement within these institutions. In exploring this overview, researchers hope to determine if there is sufficient effort invested in tracing and finding these children's families.
This article discusses the legal residency advocacy campaign that occurred in the late 2000s in the Netherlands and the United States on behalf of immigrant youths with precarious legal status. These advocates argued that youths possessed certain cultural attributes and that these attributes made them
deserving
of permanent residency status.
This report gives an estimate of the number of immigrant and refugee children who will enter the United States in 2016, where. they come from, and the traumas they face. It includes recommendations for policy and practice.
The duality of children's political agency in deportability
This article discusses how children's political agency manifests in everyday life. It shows how children who become aware of their legal status as 'deportable' reject this subject position and offer their own definitions of who they are and where they belong.
This capacity building package was developed to
build the
crisis to be able to address child
capacity
of those responding to the refugee and
migrant
protection con
cerns within the unique settings
of the largely
transit countries, in particular Croatia, Ser
bia and the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (tfYROM).
It contains four core modules: Block A - Cultural Sensitivity; Block B - Impact of Being a Refugee/Migrant on Children; Block C - Working Together for the Benefit of Children; and Block D - Safeguarding.
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This paper examines the association between cross-border ties and cross-border separation with the health of sub-Saharan African (SSA) migrant adults living in metropolitan France using data from the nationally representative "Trajectoire et Origines" survey. The study found that remitting money and having a child abroad are each associated with poor health among women, but not men.
Child Maltreatment and Migration A Population-Based Study Among Immigrant and Native Adolescents in Switzerland
This article discusses how prevalence rates of child maltreatment (CM) can differ substantially between countries and ethnicities. Reasons, however, are complex and not sufficiently understood. This epidemiological study examined prevalence and risk factors of various types of CM in a population-based representative sample of native and immigrant adolescents in Switzerland. The study found that the prevalence of CM in general was lowest in the native group,
Effects of Migration on Childhood in Guanajuato, Mexico
Using the stories and reflections of boys and girls in Guanajuato, Mexico, this study points out how there are different ways to understand and cope with the issues that surround migration.
Can the Children Speak?: Precarious Subjects at the US-Mexico Border
This essay considers the recent increase in migration of unaccompanied minors from Central America and Mexico and argues that US border control and immigration officials have not addressed the specific experiences of migrating children.
This article highlights how inter-generational practices of love, care and solidarity are central to the negotiation of belonging in the settlement country.
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| OTHER RESEARCH AND UPDATES |
Factors Related to the Placement into and Reintegration of Children from Catholic-affiliated Residential Care Facilities in Zambia
This study from Catholic Relief Services investigates the factors related to children's placement in Catholic-affiliated residential care facilities in Zambia. According to this study, the government estimates that there are approximately 190 residential-care facilities located in Zambia, and of those 40 are Catholic-affiliated.
Meant to highlight the maxim that every child deserves the best that we all have to give; this book provides a review of the progress made since The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It contains reports from 21 countries on the status of the rights of the child. The countries are: Australia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Solomon Islands, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. There are no reports from Africa.
This report examines the effects the 2015 Nepal earthquakes had on vulnerable populations. It lists several concerns faced since the earthquake, which include the thousands of people who have lost their homes and children left unaccompanied. These groups are considered ripe targets for human traffickers. Researchers evaluate the posed risks to children, women, and marginalized groups. The report highlights the workshops and trainings that were held to protect vulnerable populations.
Cash for Care: Making Social Protection Work for Children's Care and Well-being
Family for Every Child, in partnership with the Centre for Social Protection at the Institute for Development Studies, just announced the launch of its Cash for Care: Making Social Protection Work for Children's Care and Well-being Report.
"Paper Orphans: Exploring Child Trafficking for the Purpose of Orphanages" serves as a legal analyses of child trafficking for the purpose of filling orphanages. This paper focuses on the displacement of the child and intends to determine whether or not this displacement can be determined as trafficking under international law.
This chapter of the Children's Well-Being: Indicators and Research discusses the dangers of using categories in child welfare. This article notes that categories can close enquiry and hinder understanding rather than help it. It points out that the category 'street children' contains a wide variety of young people, and the streets play different roles in their lives. It also points out that the category can carry connotations of delinquency. The article states that it is necessary to enquire what precisely is the role of the streets in their lives.
This article examines the cultural differences Korean adoptees perceived when interacting with their birth families along with the impact of these perceived differences. The article points out that there has been little research on transnational adoptees, as most research focuses on domestic adoptees. The researchers interviewed 19 adoptees and examined their perceived differences. They found that differences had a wide variety of impacts on the participants' sense of belonging.
This article discusses adoption in the international human rights framework. Most specifically, it focuses on the rights of the child and how to proceed with adoptions by keeping in mind the best interest of the child. This article makes sure to emphasize that the best interest of the child should always be kept in mind throughout the adoption process. In the interest of providing an example, this article focuses on Romania.
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In this issue, we highlight the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 72nd Session held from May 2016, with a particular focus on sections addressing children's care.
Click below to read the Country Care Reviews for the following countries:
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We've Now Hit 50 Million Displaced Kids Around the World
In this video, Newsy discusses UNICEF's recent report that there are now 50 million displaced children worldwide.
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| UNICEF: 50 Million Displaced Children Around the World |
What They Took With Them
Cate Blanchett performs the rhythmic poem 'What They Took With Them' alongside fellow actors Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Peter Capaldi, Stanley Tucci, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kit Harington, Douglas Booth, Jesse Eisenberg and Neil Gaiman.
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| UNHCR: What They Took With Them |
Home (Film)
The filmmaker Daniel Mulloy has directed a new 20-minute film, entitled 'Home,' which is inspired by the current refugee crisis.
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Child Welfare's Responsibility to Promote Child and Family Well-Being Post Permanence: The Need to Create a Robust Permanency Continuum Framework Webinar
27 September 2016, Webinar
5 October 2016, Webinar
5 October 2016 Damen Student Center Cinema, Loyola University Chicago
13 Oct 2016, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA
Submission Deadline (extended) is 15 October 2016
23-25 October 2016,
Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.
7-8 November 2016,
United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
8 November 2016 - Paris, France
17-18 November 2016 -
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
6-8 April 2017 - Austin, Texas
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| JOB POSTINGS, CONSULTANCY OPPORTUNITIES & CALLS FOR NOMINATIONS |
Catholic Relief Services Seeks Senior Technical Advisor for OVC/Youth (Southern Africa)
The STA will provide regional leadership in the development and utilization of relevant strategies, guidelines, tools, and learning agendas, and in the documentation and dissemination of best practices.
Catholic Relief Services is Seeking a Technical Advisor II - 4Children Swaziland
The Technical Advisor II will work closely with and be based at the Department of Social Welfare to achieve the project objectives, effectively coordinate, manage and monitor and evaluate the case management systems strengthening and child sensitive prevention and response services to violence.
IRC Seeks Child Protection Technical Advisor
This position provides child protection technical leadership in the design and development of programs for children in countries in conflict, crisis, post-conflict and post-crisis settings across the world, with a specific focus on research, monitoring and evaluation for child protection.
UNICEF Seeks Child Protection Specialist (Alternative Care), P-3, Accra, Ghana #98784
The Specialist supports the development and preparation of the Child Protection programs/projects and for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting of progress of child protection programs/projects within the country program.
Lumos USA Seeks Executive Director
The Executive Director will have overall responsibility for leading the team in the administration, strategy, and finances of Lumos USA to ensure the successful achievement of the mission. Reporting to the Secretary to the Board, the ED will supervise a staff of three that includes a Communications Manager, Relationships Manager, and Researcher.
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