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New edition of Research Watch part of global effort on child migration

06 Sep 2016
RW slider-after launch 2

With an estimated 50 million children on the move in the world today, and millions more deeply affected by migration, the need for in-depth evidence to inform better policy on child migration has never been greater.

In response, UNICEF Innocenti has launched a new edition of Research Watch – an online portal for researchers and policy analysts – on the theme Children on the Move. The new edition brings together top researchers, policy experts and children themselves, to explore a wide range of topical research and evidence questions. Children on the Move has been launched in coordination with UNICEF’s new global migration report Uprooted: The Growing Crisis for Migrant and Refugee Children.    

“It is a fantastic opportunity to launch a new edition of Research Watch in coordination with release of a major global report on child migration – one of the world’s most urgent challenges for children,” said Dale Rutstein, Chief of Communication at UNICEF Innocenti. 

“We hope to highlight the critical role for in-depth research, especially involving the voices of children, in efforts to develop better policies and programmes for migrant and refugee children.”

After more than a year in hiatus, Research Watch has been completely revamped as digital first multimedia content. It provides multiple thematic expert videos, topical written commentaries, in-depth podcasts and suggested research resources. As always, the content presents the views and experience of some of the leading thinkers on the current topic. 

Featured expert voices for Children on the Move include Simon Parker, at the University of York, Jacqueline Bhahba, of Harvard Law and Harvard Kennedy Schools, Victoria Rietig, with the Migration Policy Institute, Andrea Rossi, UNICEF social policy specialist and Mike Dottridge, an independent child rights in migration expert. 

The main research themes highlighted in the videos include: Push and Pull Factors Affecting Children in Migration, Child Migration and the Law, and Challenges in Protecting the Rights of Migrating Children. Two additional videos tell the story of migrant children in Guatemala and Greece. 

There are also written think pieces on a wide range of child migration questions. Professor François Crépeau, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants on administrative detention of children and Michelle May, of the Harvard Program on Refugee Trauma writes on unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan, Hanne Beirens of the Migration Policy Institute in Brussels writes on EU child oriented asylum policy among others. The podcasts contain all full un-edited interviews with featured experts. 

Research Watch and the global report Uprooted are key elements in UNICEF’s call for improved global cooperation on child migration on the eve of the 19 September UNGA Summit on Large Scale Movements of Refugees and Migrants and President Obama’s 20 September Leaders’ Summit on Refugees.

GO TO THE RESEARCH WATCH PAGE

(7 September 2016)