Independent Child Migrants in Developing Countries: Unexplored links in migration and development

Shahin Yaqub

Innocenti Working Papers

Abstract: This paper focuses on independent migrant children, defined as below 18 years old, who choose to move from home and live at destinations without a parent or adult guardian. It summarises quantitative and qualitative research, and uses this to reflect on research agendas and global debates towards linking migration and development. The paper surveys historical evidence on linkages between children’s migration and societal development in earlier periods of modernisation, and identifies parallels to contemporary developing countries. The contemporary situation in developing countries is described in terms of: (1) numerical scale; (2) individual and family characteristics of the children involved; (3) decision-makers and decision-making processes in children’s movements; (4) why it happens, including from children’s viewpoints; (5) modes of movements; and (6) situations of children at destinations. The paper considers the extent to which children may demand migration opportunities, and how this demand may be met partly with forms of movement specific to children. Research strategies are discussed to provide a bridge to development issues, including conceptualization of children’s independent movements, children’s labour migration, migration statistics and selection of who migrates. A final section draws on the review to reflect on global debates in child development and societal development.

Keywords: migrant children; migrant families; migration; unaccompanied children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 91
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa09/62

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://www.unicef-i ... ks-in-migration.html
The price is All UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti publications can be downloaded from our website free of charge. Printed copies of some titles can also be ordered from the United Nations Publications website https://shop.un.org/search/unicef/node/29892.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Innocenti Working Papers
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Patrizia Faustini ().