Children and Migration
How unaccompanied minors, family separation, and the detention of children have become among the most urgent and emotionally charged issues in migration policy.
Children on the Move
An estimated 36 million children were living outside their country of birth in the early 2020s, and millions more were internally displaced. Children migrate with families, are sent ahead by parents, or flee alone. Unaccompanied minors, children traveling without a parent or guardian, are among the most vulnerable people in the world. They face exploitation, trafficking, sexual abuse, and recruitment by armed groups. Many disappear from official systems: over 50,000 unaccompanied children went missing in Europe between 2018 and 2020.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history (only the US has not ratified it), establishes that in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. This principle should guide migration policy, but in practice, immigration enforcement often takes precedence over child welfare.
