Children on the Move in the Twenty-First Century

Though children have always migrated, the distinctive risks they face and the protection challenges that arise have been largely neglected. As a result, child migrants are denied basic human rights protections owed them as children, including the fundamental right to have their best interests considered. Instead these children are routinely treated first and foremost as migrants, subjected to harsh procedures and sometimes denied legal representation of even held in punitive detention facilities. The chapter explores recent encouraging policy developments that challenge the historic neglect of child migrants' rights and substitute instead measures designed to enhance the competence of migration officials vis à vis children's needs, and domestic child welfare workers' engagement with the protection challenges facing non citizen children.