The findings of the Unicef report, Uprooted: The Growing Crisis for Refugee and Migrant Children, could not be grimmer. Over 50 per cent of the 50 million children who have migrated or been forcibly displaced across borders are said to have fled violence. About one in three children who live outside their country of birth is a refugee. The much smaller ratio of displacement for adults — less than one in 20 according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees — reveals the starkness of the situation. The UNHCR says that in the decade ending 2015, the number of child refugees almost doubled. Last year, Syria and Afghanistan alone accounted for nearly half the world’s child refugees, highlighting the brutal impact of the war on a segment of society that had little to do with the conflict directly or otherwise and is the most vulnerable. The last decade saw two landmark rulings on the conscription of child soldiers. The first was the 2007 judgment of the UN-backed tribunal for Sierra Leone against three men from a rebel armed group. The other was the conviction of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga by the International Criminal Court in 2012.
Against this backdrop, the dramatic rise in school enrolment under a global universal primary education drive, or the halving of infant mortality rates under the Millennium Development Goals, seem like postcards from another universe. The shocking reality of trafficking in boys and girls, conscription by armed groups in conflict zones and exploitation in the sex trade has overshadowed these advances, portending both immediate and long-term danger to whole generations. Paradoxically, the recommendations of the Unicef report are so comprehensive that short of swift and sweeping changes in global policy and practice, they are unlikely to yield tangible results. A case in point is the suggestion that governments should address the root causes of conflict, violence and extreme poverty, and instead divert scarce resources to fulfil more fundamental necessities of life. The spirit underlying this idea is as compelling as the complexities of realpolitik that impede its translation into action. This is evident in respect of the challenge of combating international terrorism by a delineation of its political antecedents. Conversely, the idea to dispense with the detention of children seeking refugee status and to do away with reporting requirements, potentially benefiting 11 million, is a more pragmatic proposal. Prima facie, there is merit in this approach, as governments may be expected to take a more sympathetic view on humanitarian imperatives.
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