From the Bookshelves: Migrating Alone: Unaccompanied and Separated Children’s Migration to Europe Edited by Jyothi Kanics, Daniel Senovilla Hernández and Kristina Touzenis

 
Migrating Alone: Unaccompanied and Separated Children’s Migration to Europe Edited by Jyothi Kanics, Daniel Senovilla Hernández and Kristina Touzenis   The book is available for purchase on the UNESCO Publishing Website in the Social Sciences Studies series Summary The planned, forced or spontaneous decision to abandon home and country of origin takes on a new dimension when the persons involved in the migration adventure are sometimes just in their early teens. Despite common features and many links with the migration of adults, the independent migration of children has emerged as a specific phenomenon all over the world. Since the early 1990s, most European countries have notably been destination and/or transit points for such young migrants. Faced with the migration of unaccompanied and separated children, European national government policies do not always coincide with the legal instruments (national or international) created for the care of children ‘in need’ regardless of origin or nationality. Child migrants tend to be considered migrants before they are considered children, whereas international legal protection standards for children are far better than those concerning migrants. The essays that make up this book tackle the question of child migration from legal, sociological and anthropological angles, examining the situation in both countries of origin and receiving countries.

KJ