A/79/213
5.
Unfortunately, many of the concerns raised in my predecessor’s 2009 report
(A/HRC/11/7) on the protection of children in the context of migration remain a
decade and a half on. The present report reiterates and expands on those concerns and
challenges, many of which are compounded in contemporary migration settings,
including concerning trends by several countries towards increasingly restrictive
migration policies; externalization of border and migration procedures;
criminalization of irregular migration; compounding of racial discrimination,
including through digital technologies used for border enforcement; 6 targeting of
human rights defenders and organizations working to save migrants’ lives, 7 which
reduces capacity for rescuing children in danger; return and readmission
arrangements that lack due process guarantees for children’s rights and safety; certain
unprecedented immigration-related practices during the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) pandemic; and the growth of climate-induced displacement.
6.
The number of children who are compelled to move by the impacts of climate
change will only increase, with weather-related events linked to an estimated
9.8 million new (mostly internal) displacements of children in 2020 alone. 8 In disaster
contexts, children often experience physical and emotional stress and trauma,
witnessing the destruction of homes and communities, losing family members and
becoming (or fearing being) separated from parents or caregivers, which amplifies
the risks of exploitation, child trafficking and abuse. 9 At the end of 2023, 47 million
children were forcibly displaced by insecurity, armed conflicts and persecution,
whether internally within countries or crossing borders to seek international
protection as refugees. 10
7.
In recent years, new policy instruments and guidance have reiterated that the
comprehensive protection of children under international law extends to all children
irrespective of migration status. These include two joint general comments by the
Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on the human rights
of children in the context of international migration in 2017, 11 and this mandate
holder’s report on child immigration detention in 2020. 12 It also includes adoption of
the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact
on Refugees, with the Global Compact for Migration including child -sensitivity as a
guiding principle for all aspects of migration governance. 13 Several States and
stakeholders made child-focused pledges at the first global review of the Global
Compact for Migration in 2022 (the International Migration Review Forum),
including on working to end child immigration detention, while at the 2023 Global
Refugee Forum, States and stakeholders made more than 90 pledges linked to a child
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See A/75/590 and A/HRC/48/76. See also Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) and University of Essex, “Digital border governance: a human rightsbased approach” (September 2023).
See A/77/178.
United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), “ Futures at risk: protecting the rights
of children on the move in a changing climate” (2021), p. 5.
UNICEF, Children Displaced in a Changing Climate: Preparing for a Future already Underway
(2023).
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugee Data Finder (viewed
18 June 2024).
Joint general comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families/No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights
of the Child; and joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families/No. 23 (2017) of the Committee
on the Rights of the Child.
See A/75/183. See also A/HRC/15/29 (study by OHCHR on the protection of the rights of the
child in the context of migration).
Global Compact for Migration, para. 15; see also Global Compact for Refugees.
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