หลักประโยชน์สูงสุดของเด็กในการอยพย้ายถิ่น (input-Save the children)
Protecting the Rights of children who are on the move and children affected by migration.
Background(excerpt from Inter-Agency Group on Children on the Move- the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development 2013):
Children make up a significant part of the large-scale and complex population movements currently taking place in many parts of the world and the number of children who are 'on the move' is growing dramatically. It is estimated that there are approximately 750 million internal migrants and 241 million international migrants globally today- a number expected to grow to 400 million by 2040. Each typically supports many family members ack home, which also helps to lift entire communities. Almost half of the migrants are female. Many of these migrants are children or young people moving either alone or with their parents, on a permanent or on a seasonal basis. It is estimated that 3.3 million international migrants worldwide are under the age of 20 (representing around 16 percent of the total migrant population) and 11 million are children between the ages of 15 and 19 years. Of these, approximately 60 percent live in the least developed and developing countries (UNICEF 2012). Child migration is also a growing phenomenon regionally. Child and adolescent migrants are a significant proportion of the total migrant population in Africa (28 percent), followed by Asia (21 per cent), Oceania (11 per cent), Europe (11 per cent), and Americas (10 per cent). (UNICEF 2012)
The opportunities and the challenges that children's movement poses cannot be ignored. Making migration part of the post-2015 framework will have a meaningful impact on the lives of migrants. A stronger focus on the rights of children involved in migration will have a meaningful impact on the lives of the millions of children who are on the move today and the many millions that are likely to migrate in years to come.
Children on the move: risks and challenge
Children on the move*: Children moving for a variety of reason, voluntarily or involuntarily, within or between countries, with or without their parents or other primary caregivers, and whose movement, while it may open up opportunities, might also place them at risk (or at an increased risk) of economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect, and violence
(*defined by the Inter-Agency Group on Children on the Move which was formed in 2011 after a global Conference on Children on the Move held in Barcelona in October 2010. It includes the following agencies: ILO, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, Plan international, Save the Children, Terre des Hommes, the African Movement of Working Children and Youths), Environmental Development Action in the Third World, World Vision, the Oak Foundation and individual experts and academics)
The reasons, patterns, and consequences of children's movement are diverse and complex. For many children, leaving their home communities promises the chance of a better life, an escape from poverty, abuse, violence, or conflict and a better opportunity to access jobs, education and basic services. Children on the move, especially if they are traveling unaccompanied, may lack the protective ties normally available in families and communities. Once children move, particularly in the absence of protection services and support, they can become highly vulnerable to violence, abuse and various forms of exploitation either during their journey, or once they reach the new destination. They may also face discrimination and because of their migration status, face additional barrier when trying to seek assistance, protection and basic services such as education and health. Children who may have international protection needs may face difficulties in accessing asylum procedures because of the lack of specific measures such as child-friendly asylum procedures and accessible information to support them.
Highlighted Recommendations:
1. Children must be guaranteed access to service, protection and justice regardless of migration status
1.1 State should review and reform all migration and social laws, policies, and practices which limit access to services, protection from violence, exploitation and abuse and mechanisms for legal redress in the case of rights violations, according to migrant or residence status. This must include a clear separation from immigration control in law, policy and practice and a prohibition of data sharing.
1.2 The capacity of child and social protection systems to be child-centered and to detect, refer and support situations of vulnerability beyond material poverty strengthened. These systems should also include procedures and tools to identify, protect and assist children with particular vulnerabilities, such as victims of trafficking, exploitation, violence, abuse, and trauma.
2. The right to family life and best interests of the child must be respected and fulfilled in the context of migration and development
2.1 The principle of family unity should be applied by authorities at all times, and families should never be separated by State action or left separated by State inaction, unless this is in accordance with the principle of the best interests of the child. Elements to be taken into account include: the child's view and identify, preservation of family unit and maintaining relations, care, protection, and safety, the right to health, education, situation of vulnerability etc.
2.2 States should explore and implement alternatives to detention and deportation in order to ensure children's right to family life, e.g. granting a residence permit on the grounds of family unity and the best interests of the child.
3. Immigration detention of children must stop
3.1 States should expeditiously and completely cease the immigration detention of children: children should never be detained and detention cannot be justified either on the basis of their parent's immigration status or their status as unaccompanied or separated children.
3.2 States should implement a presumption against any form of deprivation of liberty on the basis of immigration status and adopt legislation, policies and practices that enable children to remain with their family members and/or guardians if they are present in the transit and/or destination country and it is in their best interests, and be accommodated as a family in non-custodial, community-based contexts while their immigration status is being resolved, using the least restrictive means necessary.