Children’s rights: challenges and achievements in 2021

Posted on Posted in Association's life, Child Marriage, Children's Rights, Education, Empowerment, Environment, Explotation, Health, Human Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Life at Humanium, refugees, violence

The year we are slowly leaving behind has been another challenging year for children’s rights worldwide. Children around the world have been faced with many barriers hindering their opportunities to a fulfilled life, such as migration, exploitation, poverty, violence, discrimination, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic which struck a year before has continued to take its toll […]

The impact of COVID-19 on child marriage in the Middle East and North Africa

Posted on Posted in Child Marriage, Children's Rights, Explotation, Human Rights, refugees

COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities and amplified human rights challenges across the globe. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, young children from at-risk populations – girls in particular – have been forced to face an array of new hardships including an increased risk of child marriage. A recent public statement from UNICEF […]

The Mediterranean route: A dream for a better life destroyed by human trafficking

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Explotation, Freedom, Human Rights, Migration, refugees

Children represent 27% of global human trafficking victims. This issue particularly affects girls, who account for two-thirds of the victims of this serious crime, which has a drastic impact on the lives of thousands of children (Save the Children, 2021). Trafficking rings have easily spotted the opportunities for bringing in new victims that migration routes […]

Day of General Discussion 2021: children’s rights and alternative care

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Migration, refugees

On the 16th and 17th of September, during the 88th session of the United Nations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child hosted a Day of General Discussion on Children’s Rights and Alternative Care. Broadly, all children have the right to live in a protective, supporting and caring home which enables healthy development (Council […]

A cry for help: the repatriation of foreign children in North East Syria

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Migration, refugees

For over a decade, Syria has been marred by civil war. This conflict – overwhelmingly tied to territorial battles between supporters of President Al-Assad, opposing rebels and Islamic State (ISIS) actors – has had debilitating effects on the lives of vulnerable children who are the offspring of foreign ISIS fighters.  Specifically, in 2019, the U.S.-backed […]

An alarming rise in child marriage among Syrian refugees in Lebanon

Posted on Posted in Child Marriage, Children's Rights, Explotation, Freedom, Human Rights, Migration, Poverty, refugees

The Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the refugee and economic crisis in Lebanon has led to a staggering increase in child marriages amongst Syrian refugees in the country, where the rate of child marriage has increased four folds since the Syrian conflict began (Monla-Hassan & Yacoubian, 2020). While child marriage is a global issue, there are various country-specific […]

Age-assessment of migrant children

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Freedom, Health, Migration, refugees

In the past decade, migration and external displacement have become realities an increasing number of children face. Additionally, migrant children are one of the most vulnerable population groups and the inability to provide documentation confirming their age and status exacerbates this vulnerability.  Age disputes caused by increased suspicion and scepticism surrounding the arrival of migrant […]

Afghan children’s rights under serious threat under the Taliban regime

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Explotation, Freedom, Human Rights, Poverty, refugees, violence

With the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban launched an offensive on multiple fronts to reconquer territory across the country. The Afghan army was overrun, continually losing ground, until on 15 August 2021, the Taliban conquered Kabul without significant effort. The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, formerly given military support from the United […]

The separation of migrant children from their families at the US-Mexico border

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Citizenship, Freedom, Human Rights, Migration, refugees

Every child has a right to safety and protection, regardless of where they come from or where they are going. This right, however, is not always upheld, and this is particularly visible when looking at the current migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border. Unaccompanied migrant children are being separated from their families, which has devastating […]

Children in Border and Asylum Procedures: Push Backs of Migrant Children at the Border

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Citizenship, Freedom, Human Rights, Migration, refugees

A lack of provisions regarding the issues of invisibility of children in asylum-procedures and the adult-focus of the migratory framework often results in the lack of protection of this, especially vulnerable group. At the Moroccan-Spanish border in Melilla and Ceuta this is particularly visible in the implemented push-back procedure of migrant children and other asylum […]