We have collated a list of insightful and informative reports, videos and webinars for you below. Click through to find our more about other organisations and ongoing campaigns that focus on children’s rights and highlight the situation of immigration detention of children across the global.
Watch: It’s Time to End Child Immigration Detention Webinar (2016)
To commemorate International Migrants Day, the International Detention Coalition are held an online discussion on December 16: It’s Time to End Child Immigration Detention.The webinar was an open debate on the main challenges and opportunities around ending child detention, and the role that UN and civil society can play to urge States to take practical actions to make this international standard a reality.
Watch: 9 Principles to guide actions concerning children on the move (2016
Destination Unknown is an international campaign to protect children on the move led by Terre des Hommes and implemented by campaign members. Learn about the recommended principless to guide actions concerning children on the move and other children affected by migration
Children Detained in War Zones
Human Rights Watch (2016) reports on thousands of children in conflict-affected countries who have been detained without charge for months or even years as national security threats. The report is based on HRW interviews with scores of former detainees, including children, in the six countries; on United Nations reports; and other secondary sources. HRW calls on all Governments to immediately stop detaining children without charge.
Uprooted: The growing crisis for refugee and migrant children
UNICEF (2016) presents new data that paint a sobering picture of the lives and situations of millions of children and families affected by violent conflict and other crises that make it seem safer to risk everything on a perilous journey than remain at home. The report points to six specific actions that will protect and help displaced, refugee and migrant children, including ending the detention of children seeking refugee status or migrating by introducing a range of practical alternatives.
“Dad, have we done something wrong?”
Written by the Netherlands No Child in Detention Coalition (2014), this report documents the experiences and the impact of immigration detention on children and their families. The report illustrates how even short periods of detention can have harmful effects on children and explores this impact, through individual cases reflecting back years after their time in detention.
Divided by Detention: Asylum-Seeking Families’ Experiences of Separation
Written by Leigh Barrick from the American Immigration Council (2016), this report examines what happens when “family detention” does not actually keep loved ones together. The report profiles the experiences of five asylum-seeking families who are divided by detention. It provides a preliminary analysis of how this separation occurs, and the impact this separation can have on families’ well-being and ability to access humanitarian protection.
Captured Childhood
Written by the International Detention Coalition (2012), this report includes individual interviews with 70 children (interviewed in Malta, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, the US, El Salvador, Mexico, Israel, Egypt, Malaysia and Australia) and shares the experiences of 16 parents of children who had been detained. Their experiences highlight the need for alternative approaches to managing the irregular migration of children.
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely and rapidly ratified international human rights treaty in history. Only two countries, Somalia and the United States, have not ratified the agreement. The Convention defines children as any person up to the age of 18 years, and establishes in international law that States Parties must ensure that all children—without discrimination in any form—benefit from special protection measures and assistance. The Convention establishes that children must be treated as children, first and foremost.
Read an overview of the Convention’s key facts or the full Convention here.
