Publications

Despite the growing scale of forced displacement involving children and youth, our understanding of this phenomenon is severely limited by significant gaps in the availability of both relevant data and data-driven research. According to UNICEF, there is recorded data by age for just 56 percent of the refugee population under UNHCR’s mandate, while IDMC notes that just 14 percent of countries and territories with reported internally displaced populations provide data on age. The following edition of the Joint Data Center Quarterly Digest, jointly produced by UNICEF and the JDC, spotlights several recent data-driven contributions addressing these critical gaps in knowledge. We focus, in particular, on mental health risks faced by forcibly displaced children; evidence from existing evaluations and assessments on ‘what works’; and emerging research into the use of technological innovations for the management of child migration and displacement data. Taken together, this literature selection offers examples of the kinds of credible, actionable evidence which practitioners and policymakers urgently need to better support those who are forcibly displaced around the world, regardless of age.

In 2022, UNHCR estimated that 103 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide; in the same year, UNICEF further reported that 37 million of those displaced were children. Children and adolescents are more likely to have specific needs and vulnerabilities within the broader refugee population, which may affect their psychological well-being. In view of this, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight and the Barça Foundation teamed up to investigate how Sport for Development (S4D) can be a positive intervention in the lives of refugee adolescents. The mixed-methods study was conducted in 2022 in two locations in Greece: Athens and the island of Lesvos, capturing the mental health profile of adolescent refugees (ages 11-19) and the key mechanisms of an S4D programme that may influence their psychological well-being. It builds upon previous research jointly carried out by the two organizations, providing key insights to improve the effectiveness of S4D programming (especially programmes that engage with young refugee populations), as well as recommendations for governments and donors that support S4D.

Migration is a regular feature of life in the Horn of Africa. It takes multiple forms and is driven by numerous factors, including personal aspirations, economic exclusion and forced displacement as a consequence of inter-ethnic communal violence or natural disasters.

As part of a regional research series and based specifically on 418 quantitative interviews carried out in 2019, with children and young people in Somaliland and Puntland, this report provides a deeper understanding of their perceptions and feelings around safety, well-being and their protective environments. It also provides a snapshot of their access to services and resources, and their trust in authorities and other service providers.

The report concludes by offering policy and programme recommendations that can help rethink child protection approaches for migrant children and young people.

Migration is a regular feature of life in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region. It takes multiple forms and is driven by numerous factors, including personal aspirations, economic exclusion and forced displacement as a consequence of inter-ethnic communal violence or natural disasters. 

As part of a regional research series and based specifically on interviews carried out in 2019 with 405 migrant children and young people in Ethiopia, this report provides a deeper understanding of their perceptions and feelings around safety, well-being and their protective environments. It also provides a snapshot of their access to services and resources, and their trust in authorities and other service providers in Ethiopia. 

The report concludes by offering policy and programme recommendations that can help rethink child protection approaches for migrant children and young people in Ethiopia.

The number of international migrants under 18 is rising, accelerated by complex and fast-evolving economic, demographic, security and environmental drivers. Based on interviews carried out with 1,290 migrant children and young people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, this report helps address the evidence gap on children and young people migrating in the Horn of Africa by providing a better understanding of their protective environments; their access to services and resources; and their perceptions of safety, well-being and trust in authorities and other providers.

It concludes by offering policy and programme recommendations to rethink child protection approaches for migrants in the region.

By the end of 2019, 4.8 million refugees and migrants had left Venezuela – making it the largest external displacement crisis in the region’s recent history. Of these, 1 in 4 was a child.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, since November 2020, 137 million girls and boys are missing out on their education due to the prolonged closure of schools during COVID-19. The implications are troubling, especially for migrant and refugee children, for whom access to inclusive and equitable education remains a major challenge.

This study collates evidence from Latin America, the Caribbean and across the world to gain a better understanding of the multifaceted linkages between education and migration. It estimates gaps in educational outcomes; identifies structural barriers to education; and highlights promising practices to inform policy.

Children are moving on an enormous scale in the Horn of Africa. The report highlights how children’s movement is driven by different motivations, exposes children to different forms of harm, and presents multiple barriers to accessing services. As elsewhere in the world, many people in the Horn of Africa are forced or pushed to move by unaddressed vulnerabilities, including poverty, persecution, disruption of their families or exposure to human rights abuses. Once they move, vulnerabilities can be exacerbated by the disruption of social structures and coping mechanisms that would otherwise have a protective effect. Being on the move can disrupt access to services as individuals may be unaware of where to turn in a new location and service providers may, in turn, have difficulty accessing them. These dangers become acute for children, especially those travelling without families.

This report is the first in a series of studies in the Horn of Africa aimed at building knowledge to improve Unicef’s programmes which support children on the move. This first qualitative study provides a better understanding of the experiences of these children. It draws on 282 individual interviews and focus group discussions with children and parents on the move, including internally displaced persons, refugees, migrants and returnees. Within each group, the researchers examined why children move and the problems they face when they do. The researchers also examined what structures exist to protect children and whether they are effectively reaching children on the move and responding to the threats these children face. The report also provides recommendations for strengthening child protection systems on the ground.

Drawing on Europe’s experience, this brief provides a cross-country comparative overview of inequality affecting children in the migration pathway, who are often described as 'children on the move'. Following a brief overview of the policy and practice in relation to various categories of refugee and migration children in Europe, it reflects on the performance of the countries with regard to Target 10.7 of the SDG.

This research sets out to understand the why, how and with whom of rural-urban internal migration of children to the Mozambique border town of Ressano Garcia. In doing so, it aims to address the overarching research question of how to strengthen child protection systems for unaccompanied migrant children. Research took place at the border town of Ressano Garcia and in the Mozambican capital city of Maputo, between July and September 2012. Following a thorough analysis of the qualitative data, engaging with the current debate on migration and child protection issues, this paper critically assesses the current interconnected ‘protective actors’ and protection mechanisms and provides recommendations. Under a qualitative child participatory approach, children and their views are placed at the centre of the research. Research participants also include protective actors that are the cornerstone of child protection mechanisms, including: civil society organizations (CSOs) in both Ressano Garcia and Maputo, and government officials at local, district, provincial and central level, thus allowing for a triangulation of sources.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the political economy of CPLs with the specific intention of mapping the relevant channels of impact on the rights and well-being of children living in rural areas where CPLs are fast-proliferating. Although there are some documented benefits, according to the large majority of the literature reviewed, the twin outcomes of displacement and dispossession are found to be critical negative socio-economic changes resulting from CPLs. In conjunction with a pervasive lack of transparency in the land transfer negotiation and implementation processes, the twin outcomes are in turn associated with a number of transmission channels that can impact the rights and well-being of children in affected rural communities.

The study was initiated with twin aims: improving understanding of child trafficking and responses in the region; and contributing to the international discourse on child trafficking by examining the linkages between anti-trafficking responses and child protection systems. Although the study was conceived with a primary focus on trafficking, its scope is much broader. It analyses how the general principles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child are applied in relation to those children vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation. The study confirms that the Nordic countries have indeed made significant − and continuously evolving − attempts to address the issue of child trafficking, including through setting up relevant institutions, developing action plans and allocating budgets. However, while this has meant that specialized expertise is available for specific groups of children, it has sometimes also led to fragmentation of services, leaving some children unprotected. The research also finds that many existing gaps may be bridged by consistent and strengthened implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the same time, the study highlights that there is a way to achieve a fuller realization of rights for children who are vulnerable.

The study was initiated with twin aims: improving understanding of child trafficking and responses in the region; and contributing to the international discourse on child trafficking by examining the linkages between anti-trafficking responses and child protection systems. Although the study was conceived with a primary focus on trafficking, its scope is much broader. It analyses how the general principles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child are applied in relation to those children vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation. The study confirms that the Nordic countries have indeed made significant − and continuously evolving − attempts to address the issue of child trafficking, including through setting up relevant institutions, developing action plans and allocating budgets. However, while this has meant that specialized expertise is available for specific groups of children, it has sometimes also led to fragmentation of services, leaving some children unprotected. The research also finds that many existing gaps may be bridged by consistent and strengthened implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the same time, the study highlights that there is a way to achieve a fuller realization of rights for children who are vulnerable.