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Kids Abroad: Ignore Them, Abuse Them Or Protect Them? Lessons on How to Protect Children on the Move from Being Exploited

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Mike Dottridge Kids abroad: ignore them, abuse them or protect them? Lessons on how to protect children on the move from being exploited. Terre des Hommes International Federation This study has been produced with the financial assistance Cover photo: Terre des Hommes Germany of the Oak Foundation and Terre des Hommes Netherlands. ©Terre des Hommes International Federation, August 2008. The views expressed are those of the author. ISBN number: 978-2-9700457-3-1 The Terre des Hommes International Federation is a network of eleven national organisations, whose mission is to provide Photo credits: active support to children, their family and their community without racial, religious, political, cultural or gender-based Photos 1, 4 and 9: discrimination in the framework of the United Nations Con- Terre des Hommes Foundation (Lausanne, Swizterland) vention on the Rights of the Child. To achieve this aim, the Terre des Hommes organisations mobilise political will, ad- Photo 2: vocate for appropriate government policies and support 1085 Terre des Hommes Netherlands. development and humanitarian aid projects in 71 countries. Projects are run in close partnership with the beneficiaries Photos 3, 5-8 and 10: who are the primary actors in their own lives, including chil- Mike Dottridge. dren. Terre des Hommes works with 850 local and national 2 civil society organisations. The photos in this study have been selected to ensure they meet the criteria set out in UNICEF’s Principles for ethical The Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF) reporting on children (accessed at www.unicef.org/media/ has consultative status with the United Nations Economic media_tools_guidelines.html). and Social Council (ECOSOC), UNICEF, ILO and the Coun- These specify that it is appropriate to change the name and cil of Europe. obscure the visual identity of any child who is identified as: The author of this study is Mike Dottridge, an independent a. A victim of sexual abuse or exploitation, human rights consultant. He is the author of several other b. A perpetrator of physical or sexual abuse, publications issued by Terre des Hommes: Kids as Commodi- c. HIV positive, living with AIDS or has died from AIDS, ties. Child trafficking and what to do about it (2004) and A unless the child, a parent or a guardian gives Handbook on planning projects to prevent child trafficking fully informed consent, (2007), as well as one joint Terre des Hommes – UNICEF d. Charged or convicted of a crime. publication, Action to prevent child trafficking in South East- ern Europe. A Preliminary Assessment (2006). He was the Reproductions, copies and quotes from any part of this director of a London-based non-governmental organisation, publication are allowed, provided they are accompanied by Anti-Slavery International, from 1996 until 2002. He lives in an acknowledgement that Mike Dottridge is the author and the United Kingdom. Terre des Hommes the publisher. Table of contents Author’s Acknowledgements . 5 Abbreviations. 6 Glossary. .6 Executive Summary . 9 PART 1 CHILD PROTECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF CHILDREN’S MOBILITY AND MIGRATION . 12 1 Introduction. 12 1.1 What is this study about? . 12 1.2 Moving from a focus on a single type of abuse experienced by children to abuse in general . 13 1.3 Who is this study about?. .16 1.4 Methods used to compile this study. .16 1.5 What the study does not focus on . .17 1.6 The politicised context. 17 1.7 A study in three parts. 18 2 The opportunities to protect children who move or migrate. 19 2.1 Children learning to protect themselves . 19 2.2 The role of parents or parent substitutes. .20 2.3 The role of communities and governments . 20 2.4 The opportunities for protection when children move or migrate . 22 PART 2 EXAMPLES OF PROTECTION PRACTICES FROM AROUND THE WORLD . 25 3 Central America: On the road north – and south. .25 3.1 Nicaragua. .26 3.2 Nicaraguan children in Costa Rica. 26 4 South East Europe and the Baltic States: Efforts to develop child protection mechanisms. .28 3 4.1 School education . 28 4.1.1 Initiatives to stop children dropping out of school. .28 4.1.2 Modernising the content of school education. 30 4.2 Giving adolescents advice and suggesting precautions when they travel. 31 4.3 Developing child protection mechanisms at community level. 34 5 Western Europe: Does depriving children of liberty protect them?. 38 5.1 The responses of governments in industrialised countries to the arrival of separated children. 38 5.2 The response to foreign children earning money on the streets. .39 5.3 Putting foreign separated children into detention. .40 5.4 Deporting separated children who arrive from outside the European Union. .41 5.4.1 The rights and wrongs of deporting separated children. .42 5.4.2 The limited assistance that NGOs are able to give to separated children. .44 6 West Africa: Strengthening existing socio-economic practices which help protect children. .45 6.1 Massive numbers of children migrate within West Africa. 45 6.2 Conventional responses suggest that some or all of the young migrants are victims of trafficking. 45 6.3 Children protecting children: an extra layer in the protective environment. .47 6.4 Enabling children to stay in their villages. 49 6.5 Taking a closer look: investigating how some recruitment practices have a protective effect and whether this can be improved. 50 6.6 Girls recruited to be domestic servants. 51 6.6.1 The case of girls recruited in Sourou (Burkina Faso) to work as domestic servants. 51 6.6.2 The case of girls recruited in Akebou (Togo) to work as domestics in the neighbouring country . 53 6.7 Comments. 54 7 South Asia: Looking for more effective ways to protect children. 56 7.1 Using new technology . 58 7.1.1 Telephone help line for children suffering abuse. .58 7.1.2 Developing coherence and coordination at local level – the multi-sectoral approach again. .60 7.1.3 Counter-balancing the use of telephone hotlines in cities: action to prevent the exodus of children from Bihar . 60 7.2 How a freedom of information law (Right to Information Act) improved child protection. .61 7.3 Clubs for girls in Bangladesh. 62 8 South East Asia: Protecting children in migrant communities and preventing working children being abused . 64 8.1 Enabling migrant communities in Thailand to protect themselves. 64 8.1.1 Developing child protection mechanisms at community level. 66 8.1.2 Protecting migrant child workers. .67 8.1.3 Limits on the effectiveness of protection based in migrant communities. 68 8.2 Encouraging ‘safe migration’ within China. ..
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