A plethora of policies and international treaties surround the growing phenomenon of the approximately 250 million child migrants globally, and the kinds of barriers or services they might encounter on their hazardous journeys.
Although most of these policies claim to uphold the best interests of the child, their implementation eludes many of the countries that espouse them and, in some dire cases, have even resulted in the opposite happening.
Richard Ots, Chief of the South African Mission of the International Organisation for Migration told a Mail & Guardian Critical Thinking Forum on Monday night about a particularly alarming child trafficking case he encountered while working in Mauritania.
The father of a 13-year-old Ghanaian girl applied to the Spanish Embassy for a medical visa because the little girl had burns all over her body, he said. The Embassy staff did not trust the story, and notified the police, who investigated the case.
“It was found out that the burns were caused by her father for the sole purpose of being able to [get a visa to Europe].”
The girl was put into the care of social services and it was discovered that her father had also infected her with HIV. When the girl’s mother was contacted to facilitate repatriation of the girl, she was told about her daughter’s health and initially did not want to claim her.
“A lot of these cases carry such complexities that it is very difficult to [have] regulations that address all aspects of the situation. It’s absolutely mind-boggling how people can be so unscrupulous in their goals.”
This unscrupulousness takes many forms in the shifting landscape of child migration, panellists told guests at the forum, which was held in Soweto and jointly hosted by Save the Children South Africa.
Human traffickers and corrupt government officials continue to make big profits out of child migrants. But dishonesty is not only a means of exploiting children — it is also a symptom of the desperation of millions of migrating families and children who flee poverty, conflict or natural disasters in their own countries, searching for political stability and economic or educational opportunities in others.
The forum sought to answer the question “How do we strengthen the protection of children crossing borders in Southern Africa and build safer and sustainable child protection systems?”
Migrant children are those who move voluntarily or involuntarily; within or between countries; with or without their parents or other primary caregivers; with or without documentation; and whose movement — while it may open up better work or education opportunities — may also place them at risk of economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence.
Ots said it was estimated that 25% of all migrants are children.
At the core of the international framework for human and children’s rights is the Convention on the Rights of the Child — the most widely ratified human rights treaty. It states that all the rights contained in it apply to all children, without discrimination of any kind, and the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children.
South African policy also prioritises child protection, panellist Tebogo Mabe, Director of Adoptions and International Social Services at the national Department of Social Development, told guests.
“The Child Act, [which was] implemented in 2010, has certain provisions in terms of the care and protection of vulnerable children,” he said.
“[It works with the] definition of a child [as] anyone below the age of 18 years … so when we offer services and talk about protecting children, we need not look at the [country of] origin of the child … regardless of nationality … we need to talk about how efficiently we can assist these children.”
Positive policy development is one thing, but implementation and inter-agency, inter-government and inter-departmental co-ordination has proven to be another.
Practically, Home Affairs departmental spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete said the department was focusing on its border management capabilities.
“This is not done to keep anybody out or in, but done so that we [can] use official ports of entry and [are] able to use legislation to manage the people coming into the country … because of national security, but also because of child trafficking. We want to protect children coming in and going out of the country,” he said.
Roshan Dadoo, Executive Director of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, said the organisation was working with the Department of Social Development on developing standard operating procedures for unaccompanied minors.
“We do need to see broader co-operation … because you realise that at the same time [the police] are trying to make standard operating procedures, and I think that’s sometimes where the problems lie: not always in the policy … [but] in implementation, and government departments not talking to each other …”
Liesl Muller from Lawyers for Human Rights echoed this point, saying laws concerning migrant children “are mostly well written and well thought through, but implementation is a huge thing and that involves awareness raising and education”.
She said crucial policies around migrant children’s right to education could be implemented better if schools were informed of the law enforcing this.
“The Department of Basic Education needs to let their schools know they can’t turn away children without documents.”
But even assessing children’s needs is a major challenge at times said panellist and Project Manager for Save the Children South Africa Gilles Virgili.
“Policies say that a child should be assessed during a period not exceeding six months before a durable solution is found, but the reality is that most migrant children remain in institutions for years with their cases, including legal status, being unresolved.”
Their call for better co-operation resonated in comments made by panellist Sofia Moreira de Sousa, Deputy Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to South Africa.
She said the forum was timely because the large influx of migrants into the EU in the last two years and its accompanying tragedies “puts the EU and our migration policy into question”.
Policy around migration was an “evolving area where we are trying to develop common policies … to try to tackle this issue together”.
“What can we do better with the countries where people come from, to address these root causes? We also look at smugglers. How can we make this business less profitable? It is very important to talk and discuss [this] with countries that face similar challenges.”