Protecting Children in the Context of International Migration: children in migration require greater protection from violence, exploitation, and discrimination

Children in Immigrant Families: Advocacy Within and Beyond the Pediatric Emergency Department

In the United States, 1 in 4 children lives in an immigrant family. State and national policies have historically precluded equitable access to health care among children in immigrant families. More recently, increasingly restrictive policies, political rhetoric, and xenophobic stances have made immigrant families less able to access health care and less comfortable in attempting to do so, thus increasing the likelihood that patients will present to the emergency department. Once in the emergency department, language, cultural, and health literacy barriers make providing high-quality care potentially challenging for some families. Emergency care professionals can therefore glean critical insight regarding inequities from clinical work to inform advocacy and policy changes at institutional, community, regional, and national levels.

Child trafficking in Europe: what is the paediatrician's role? : A statement by the European Academy of Paediatrics

Child trafficking is among the most lucrative criminal activities in the world and growing rapidly. Poverty, natural disasters, armed conflicts and, in particular, migration put vulnerable children at high risk of trafficking. Accurate statistics on child trafficking are not available due to its illegal nature. Moreover, trafficking may not be consistently recorded and reported by European countries, mainly because of different perceptions as to who is considered a victim of trafficking. Around 4000-5000 children were identified as presumed victims of trafficking in European Union countries from 2013 to 2014; this is an underestimate of the problem because many victims go unrecognised. Trafficking is linked with issues, such as forced marriage, begging, labour or domestic servitude, slavery and prostitution as well as sexual abuse and child pornography. It may also involve the use of children as soldiers or for criminal activities, such as theft and drug smuggling. Child trafficking also involves the removal of organs and the selling neonates, infants, and children for adoption. Child victims of trafficking should be promptly identified in order to provide them with the necessary care as well as to prosecute the traffickers and stop their illegal activity. Healthcare professionals should be appropriately trained to keep a careful eye out for any signs of trafficking in children.

CONCLUSION

The European Academy of Paediatrics calls on our governments, intergovernmental organisations, paediatricians, and healthcare professionals to collaborate so as to improve the identification and healthcare of victims and to contribute to the disbanding and prosecution of child traffickers by reporting such situations. What is Known: • Child trafficking is a fast growing and among the most lucrative criminal activities in the world. • Poverty, natural disasters, armed conflicts and in particular migration put vulnerable children at high risk of trafficking. What is New: • Child trafficking is an underestimated and often ignored issue, with around 4000-500children identified as presumed victims in European Union countries from 2013 to 2014. • The European Academy of Paediatrics strongly encourages Paediatricians to identify victims as well as provide them with adequate health care and support; it calls on governments, intergovernmental organisations, and fellow compatriots to act within the full extent of the law to identify, disband, and prosecute child traffickers.

Global Threats to Child Safety

Children have rights, as enumerated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and need protection from violence, exploitation, and abuse. Global threats to child safety exist. These threats include lack of basic needs (food, clean water, sanitation), maltreatment, abandonment, child labor, child marriage, female genital mutilation, child trafficking, disasters, and armed conflicts/wars. Recent disasters and armed conflicts have led to a record number of displaced people especially children and their families. Strategies and specific programs can be developed and implemented for eliminating threats to the safety of children.

Child work and labour among orphaned and abandoned children in five low and middle income countries

BACKGROUND

The care and protection of the estimated 143,000,000 orphaned and abandoned children (OAC) worldwide is of great importance to global policy makers and child service providers in low and middle income countries (LMICs), yet little is known about rates of child labour among OAC, what child and caregiver characteristics predict child engagement in work and labour, or when such work infers with schooling. This study examines rates and correlates of child labour among OAC and associations of child labour with schooling in a cohort of OAC in 5 LMICs.

METHODS

The Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) study employed a two-stage random sampling survey methodology to identify 1480 single and double orphans and children abandoned by both parents ages 6-12 living in family settings in five LMICs: Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Tanzania. Regression models examined child and caregiver associations with: any work versus no work; and with working <21, 21-27, and 28+ hours during the past week, and child labour (UNICEF definition).

RESULTS

The majority of OAC (60.7%) engaged in work during the past week, and of those who worked, 17.8% (10.5% of the total sample) worked 28 or more hours. More than one-fifth (21.9%; 13% of the total sample) met UNICEF's child labour definition. Female OAC and those in good health had increased odds of working. OAC living in rural areas, lower household wealth and caregivers not earning an income were associated with increased child labour. Child labour, but not working fewer than 28 hours per week, was associated with decreased school attendance.

CONCLUSIONS

One in seven OAC in this study were reported to be engaged in child labour. Policy makers and social service providers need to pay close attention to the demands being placed on female OAC, particularly in rural areas and poor households with limited income sources. Programs to promote OAC school attendance may need to focus on the needs of families as well as the OAC.