ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 considers ‘children on the move’ and the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It asks who is a child, what is ‘childhood’, who are children on the move, what are their migration pathways, what do we know about children on the move and are children an inherently ‘vulnerable’ group? The chapter looks at the evolution of terminology around the migration of children. It also then considers past approaches that viewed women and children as homogenous and ‘vulnerable’ groups of ‘victims’. The chapter briefly engages in broader discourses around gender related to the causes, consequences and protection of women, men, girls and boys who experience displacement. ‘Safe Spaces’ and the roles of advocates and guardians for children are then explored. A sketch of the 30–34 million children and young people displaced is provided. Throughout, the work of key thinkers are provided – Jason Hart on children living in situations of political violence and armed conflict and the role for anthropology, Jacqueline Bhabha on Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age, Mike Dottridge on ‘children on the move’ and Heaven Crawley discussing When is a Child not a Child?.
