Cross-border coordination and management

The lack of established mechanisms for cooperation and collaboration between countries of origin, transit and destination often results in serious protection gaps for migrant children. Procedures to determine the children’s identity, assess their age, identify their specific needs and implement sustainable and protective solutions are often complex and require the involvement of several actors in different countries to gather the right information, particularly when issues of lack of documentation, statelessness and status emerge. In some cases, the failure to establish contact with authorities or non-governmental organizations in the countries of origin or transit to gather documentary evidence about the child and the adult claiming to be caring for themhas resulted in victims of trafficking being transferred to centres for migrants together with their exploiters. In other cases, lack of coordination or contact between relevant actors or authorities in countries of origin, transit or destination stops children from accessing education or the health care they need. This is the case, for example, when lack of documentation or the non-transferability of documentation means that education achievements in one country are not recognized in another. Similarly, the lack of access to records of health issues or care received in a country may affect the care children are able to receive at arrival in a different country.

Several provisions in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) explicitly address transnational cooperation between States. Some of them directly address provisions in the field of child protection, including the requirement that States take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse; that States prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children; that States ensure that intercountry adoption is carried out only by competent authorities; and that States ensure the appropriate protection for children who are seeking refugee status or who are considered a refugee (CRC, articles 21, 22, 34, 35).