Data collection for at-risk children in migration
Flora Bolter
Observatoire national de la protection de l'enfance (ONPE)
Flora Bolter is a political scientist. She has worked in different positions connected to the evaluation and setting up of public policies, first as a parliamentary assistant, then as the head of the research and evaluation unit in a social work NGO in Paris, and finally at the French observatory of child protection (Observatoire national de la protection de l'enfance - ONPE, www.onpe.gouv.fr), where she currently works as research officer. ONPE (a branch of the Public interest group GIPED) is the public agency particularly in charge of documenting and studying evolutions in the field of child protection in France, in terms of procedures and practices as well as in terms of overall population data. It has been created by law in 2004 and operates an observation system that relies on a network of locally-based observatories. It also promotes research in these fields.
Abstract
Children in migration represent a growing population in Europe, with or without their parents. Many of them flee difficult living conditions and face hardships during their journey. During their travels, they can fall prey to... [ view full abstract ]
Children in migration represent a growing population in Europe, with or without their parents. Many of them flee difficult living conditions and face hardships during their journey. During their travels, they can fall prey to trafficking and exploitation. They can also be victims of peer or institutional violence, and may be subjected to abusive migration detention, invasive age determination procedures or accidental refoulement, which can all fall within the wide scope of child abuse and neglect.
Understanding and documenting the realities faced by these children is essential to identify situations of abuse and to respond to them or prevent them when possible. But precisely because they are in migration, these children can be difficult to track and to help: they cross national borders back and forth, don’t necessarily have reliable identity documents, frequently go missing from care when they are unaccompanied, and the stories they tell can vary over time. Finally, the best interest of the child is not necessarily in line with the collection of any and all information, and the question of procedural safeguards is particularly crucial.
EU and national authorities have tried in different ways to put into place some data collection mechanisms, largely based on existing asylum and migration authorities and activities (such as Frontex for sea arrivals in the Mediterranean, and Eurodac for asylum claims). This reliance on activity data can introduce an observation bias, but very little quantitative data is accessible otherwise. This symposium aims to bring together actors of data collection and actors of child protection to discuss the importance of data collection to safeguard these children and prevent situations of abuse. It will also present the existing data collection initiatives, their gaps and strengths.
Authors
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Flora Bolter
(Observatoire national de la protection de l'enfance (ONPE))
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John Fluke
(Kempe Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine)
Topic Area
Refugee Children
Session
Workshop1 » Session1-Child Trafficking (11:00 - Monday, 2nd October, Asia Room)
Presentation Files
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