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MANILA, Philippines—Governments participating in next week's Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) should pay attention to the plight of an estimated 20 million undocumented migrant children.
This was the call made on Friday by various non-government organizations and civil society groups gathered here for the ongoing People's Global Action on Migration, Development, and Human Rights -- a parallel forum to the governments-led and Department of Foreign Affairs-organized GFMD.
At their destination countries, these children are often deprived of the right to education and health services due to their status, the NGOs said. And when their parents have to be deported, they are expelled as well.
"We are asking governments to be more conscious and to study the phenomenon of children in the migration process, especially the undocumented -- who they are, where they are, so that [the governments] would know how to help," said Edelweiss Silan, regional cross-border project coordinator of the Save the Children.
"We want governments to come up with policies that are more supportive of children's rights," she added.
Silan reminded authorities around the world that the committee overseeing the fulfillment of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child holds countries responsible for all children inside their borders regardless of the children's status.
"The challenge is how to make this [provision] practical and implementable," she said.
Silan said it is difficult to put a number to undocumented migrant children, but said that of the estimated 100 million migrant workers worldwide, 20 percent are children.
She defined migrant children as those who have moved away from their country with or without their parents, or those who were born to migrant parents while in transit or in their destination country.
Silan said the flash points for this phenomenon include Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea (for Filipino and other Asian migrants), and Europe (for African migrants).
"The magnitude is so immense and the lack of attention to their condition is equally gaping. Governments must look at the figures, not just of past remittances, but of the number of children affected. They are part of the cost of the migration process," she said.
Silan said that in many instances, not even the migrant workers enjoy their rights, much less their dependents.
"For instance, working conditions do not allow for freedom of movement; they are confined in a common housing area, 10 to 15 to a small room, with a CCTV (closed-circuit television) monitoring their every move," she said.
Edel McGinley, of the Ireland-based Platform for International Cooperation for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), said the undocumented migrant children have "triple vulnerabilities" because they are children, migrants, and undocumented.
She said studies show that an undocumented person is two to three times more likely to suffer poverty than the documented migrants.
McGinley said these children suffer poverty, social exclusion, and discrimination. "We have very sparse data about them and as such, they are practically invisible," she said.
The PICUM representative said government policies of destination countries like those in Europe must balance between the protection needs of these children and the government concerns over immigration and security control.
McGinley cited the extreme measures adopted by France and the United Kingdom against undocumented migrants which have had bad consequences for the migrant children.
She said police in France raided schools to arrest undocumented migrant children, while the UK has forced undocumented migrants to destitution to compel them to go home.
"The children because they are children have no right to redress. Sometimes, when they are deported, they are brought to a third country first," McGinley said.
"Some are returned to the war situation in their country of origin," Silan said.
McGinley said undocumented migrants don't usually send their children to school or hospital (unless the situation is really life-threatening) for fear of being detected. "Many also don't speak the language," she said.
