A/HRC/11/7 page 12 those benefiting from remittances allowing them greater access to health care and education. However, children left behind may also be neglected, as in the case of those raised without any type of parental care or guidance, abandoned by migrating parents or extended family members and with no or limited access to social services. 46. The impact of migration on children left behind is difficult to measure.25 Many factors may play a role in assessing how migration may affect the rights of children left behind.26 For example, some studies indicate that remittances help to reduce the overall level of poverty and promote economic development in countries of origin,27 while others suggest that parental absence creates new challenges, including family instability, a greater burden on the household and social stigmatization.28 47. Children left behind might also be at greater risk of psychosocial trauma, violent behaviour, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.27 Previous findings by the mandate also indicate instances when children left behind were obliged to take on huge tasks inappropriate to their age and were subject to physical, psychological and sexual abuse by relatives or neighbours to whom they were entrusted during their parents’ absence (E/CN.4/2002/94/Add.1). Instances where households endured increased economic and psychological vulnerabilities such as families left behind, sometimes weighed down by debt, exploited by moneylenders and exposed to pressure and control from relatives because of their dependency on remittances have also been documented by the Special Rapporteur in some of his country visits. 48. Social policies in countries of origin or residence - for example, the kind of social support available for the protection of children and the specific living situation of the child in his or her country of origin or residence (whether the child has access to education, shelter, health care and 25 See for example the Migration measurement challenges described by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and UNICEF at the Global Forum on Migration and Development, 2007, available at the website www.gfmd-fmmd.org. 26 See for example A.L. D’Emilio, B. Cordero, B. Bainvel et al. “The impact of international migration: children left behind in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean”, working papers, UNICEF, 2007. 27 The role of remittances has been a significant focus of studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank. See for example R. Vargas-Lundius, G. Lanly, M. Villareal and M. Osorio, International migration, remittances and rural development, IFAD-FAO, 2008 and D. Ratha and Z. Xu, The Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, World Bank, 2008. 28 See the paper submitted by UNICEF on its policy and programme work on international migration and development (UN/POP/MIG-7CM/2008/17), seventh coordination meeting on international migration, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York, 20-21 November 2008.