Migration and children

UNICEF IRC material on migration and children

• 2009, Children in Immigrant Families in Eight Affluent Countries: Their Family, National and International Context by Professor Donal Hernandez.
  This report present the first internationally comparable statistics on children in immigrant families in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The data was drawn from censuses and population registers, and considers the composition of the immigrant child population, educational and employment situations of parents and the social context in which the children grow up. The study is accompanied by following seven background country studies (Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) in the Innocenti Working Paper series.



• 2009, Review of the Circumstances among Children in Immigrant Families in Australia, by Ilan Katz and Gerry Redmond



• 2009, The Children of Immigrants in France: The Emergence of a Second Generation, by Thomas Kirszbaum, Yaël Brinbaum and Patrick Simon, with Esin Gezer



• 2009, The Situation among Children of Migrant Origin in Germany, by Susanne Clauss and Bernhard Nauck



• 2009, The Situation of Children in Immigrant Families in Italy: Changes and Challenges, by Letizia Mencarini, Emiliana Baldoni and Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna



• 2009, Children in Immigrant Families in the Netherlands: A Statistical Portrait and a Review of the Literature by Helga A. G. de Valk, Kris R. Noam, Alinda M. Bosch and Gijs C. N. Beets



• 2009, Children in Immigrant Families in Switzerland: On a Path between Discrimination and Integration, by Rosita Fibbi and Philippe Wanner



• 2009,The Situation of Children in Immigrant Families in the United Kingdom, by Heaven Crawley



• 2009, Literature review on qualitative methods and standards for engaging and studying independent children in the developing world
  This paper reviews strategies for qualitative research on children who are independent of their parents and adult guardians, including those who migrate on their own. The literature review will draw attention to child-friendliness of research methods, child participation, recall by children of their life histories, the possibilities for combining qualitative and quantitative approaches and ethical standards.



• 2009, Independent child migrants in developing countries: unexplored links in migration and development
  This paper reviews quantitative and qualitative literature on independent migrant children and identify research gaps in assessing how this group of migrants may affect the linkages between migration and development. It will survey historical evidence on the linkages between children’s migration and societal development in earlier periods of modernization, and identify parallels to the contemporary situation in developing countries. The paper will discuss evidence on contemporary independent child migration in terms of its quantitative scale, migration forms and socio-economic patterns. It will consider the extent to which children may demand migration opportunities, and how children’s migration may involve forms of movement that may be specific to children. Research strategies will also be discussed to provide a bridge with development issues.



• 2009, Child migrants with and without parents: census-based estimates of scale and characteristics in Argentina, Chile and South Africa
  This paper will offer a quantitative analysis of children’s migration in Argentina, Chile and South Africa using individual-level census data. The paper will present data on children who have migrated with their families and on children who have migrated independently of their parents and adult guardians. It will estimate the scale of children’s migration in the three countries, differentiate by the types of migration undertaken, and describe the varied social and economic situations of migrant children.



• 2008, Independent Children, Inconsistent Adults: International child migration and the legal framework (Innocenti Discussion Paper 2008-02)
• 2005, Children of international migrants in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines: a review of evidence and policies
• 2004, Innocenti Social Monitor 2004: Economic growth and child poverty in the CEE/CIS and the Baltic States (Chapter 3)
• 1997, Children and Families of Ethnic Minorities, Immigrants and Indigenous Peoples: Global Seminar Report, 6-15 October 1996
• 1992, Children of Migrants and Ethnic Minorities: an Overview and Conceptual Framework

• Children’s Work and Independent Child Migration: A critical review
  This paper reviews literature on children who migrate for work opportunities. It will develop an analytical framework to understand the market for migrant children’s work, identify commonalities and differences in the causes of children’s work and of children’s migration, and assess their joint effects on children’s well-being in workplaces at places of destination.