African Child And Youth Migration Research Network

Internal and international migration are increasing, largely due to globalization and conflicts. According to the International Organization for Migration’s 2018 World Migration Report, there are 244 million international migrants. A larger number of people 740 million are internal migrants. There were 31 million international child migrants in 2015. Three out of five migrant children are from Africa and Asia (UNICEF, 2017), and they are a diverse population. Some children migrate with their parents or other adults, and others migrate independently. Some are born to migrant parents in receiving countries, and others are left behind by migrant parents. High migration rates involving children and youth have also been reported among African communities (Karagueuzian and Verdier-Chouchane 2014; UN 2013). For instance, as of December 31, 2016, Nigeria had 1,955,000 internally displaced persons (IDMC, 2018). Ghana has also established several refugee camps to respond to the needs of migrants fleeing wars in neighbouring countries. While there is an emerging literature describing the challenges of African migrant children and youth in the Global North, there is a paucity of information regarding the well-being of displaced children and youth in African countries, where displacement tends to exacerbate existing health and social challenges. Limited intervention studies and comparative policy analysis has been conducted in the Global North to improve the well-being of African child migrants. Moreover, limited data have been collected from the children themselves. Despite the vulnerability of African migrant children, we found limited research examining the commonalities of African migrant children in diverse countries. There is also no network focused on providing knowledge to improve global policies and practices related to African migrant children.