Children's rights in the context of irregular migration: too may problems to solve

Abstract

The phenomenon of migration continues to affect millions of children around the world who are forced to leave their countries of origin fleeing violence, armed conflict, poverty, or as a consequence of climate change, among other factors. They may be regular or irregular migrants. Regardless of their legal status, minors usually find themselves in a situation of particular vulnerability in the context of migration. Their status as minors is generally combined with being exposed to situations of discrimination, exploitation, sexual abuse, physical or psychological mistreatment, violence, human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery, locked up in immigration detention centres, denied access to essential services because of their or their parent’s status and subjected to the same regimes of criminalization as adult migrants. In fact, children are not little adults, they are children and therefore need to have their rights specially protected, both in the context of regular and irregular migration. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes the key standard of protection for all children in the context of migration. As we will see, although the Convention establishes a solid catalogue of rights, they are blurred when we approach their practical application, due to the tension between border management and immigration, even in the case of the most vulnerable, namely minors.