At this time when so many countries are affected by child migration and the impact on their health can be devastating, it is important indeed essential to listen to their own voices. A UNICEF Innocenti centre publication from 2021 makes it very clear why children emigrate and what they experience during the travel. Some of the children's words and the report's key messages are given below.
UNICEF Innocenti’s report Reimagining Migration Responses: Learning from children and young people who move in the Horn of Africa<https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/1194-reimagining-migration-respo... captures the experiences of 1,290 migrant children and young people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan in an effort to paint a more accurate picture of migration in the region.
“There was nothing good about my life before I left. If you don’t have an education, you don’t have a future. I left because I wanted to change my life and that of my family.”
– quote from 20-year-old Somali male interviewed for the study
“I live in one of the drainage pipes on the border. We inhale glue every day because we have no hope for our future.The community here see us as worthless, as the scum of the earth.They do not want to see us around, and they would be happy if we disappear from the area. The police and local militias beat us and physically abuse us on a daily basis without us doing anything wrong ...
– Interview with Ethiopian male, aged 15, Wajale, Somali region, Ethiopia, September 2019
“I left there when I was 13 years old. I had no prospects, and I didn’t want to get sent to military service.”
– Interview with Eritrean student, aged 17, Khartoum, Sudan, November 2019
“She punished me severely when I went to fetch water as I usually took some time to play before taking the water to her.”
– Interview with Ethiopian boy, aged 10, Shashemene, Oromia, Ethiopia, S eptember 2019
“I had heard about some people drowning
in the sea and I heard about people being ransomed but I didn’t believe that it was true. I thought that those people were just saying those things because they wanted us to stay in the country.”
– Interview with young female returnee, aged 21, Hargeisa, Somaliland, April 2019
“The memory still hurts me. I will never forget what I have experienced in my journey ... There is no one to protect you there. But whenever we faced any challenges, we tried to help each other ... Words are inadequate to explain how much I was sad and lonely.”
– Interview with Ethiopian man, aged 18, Hosanna Town, SNNPR, Ethiopia, August 2019
“We were in the boat for six days ... we
were only drinking water mixed with petrol the whole time. Some fell out of the pickups [trucks] on the way. Out of the 88 that had left Yemen, only 74 made it to the village [where we stopped in Sudan].”
– Interview with male returnee, aged 20, Borama, Somaliland, April 2019
The key messages of the report are as follows:
message 1.the complexity of children and young people’s migration journeys needs to be better understood for appropriate policy and programme responses:
message 2. children’s safety and well-being on migration journeys represent critical challenges and need investment and attention:
message 3.the complexity of children and young people’s migration journeys needs to be better understood for appropriate policy and programme responses:
Tony Waterston
