GlobalChild Platform

1. In accordance with the obligation of States Parties under Article 9, paragraph 1, applications by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State Party for the purpose of family reunification shall be dealt with by States Parties in a positive, humane and expeditious manner. State Parties shall further ensure that the submission of such a request shall entail no adverse consequences for the applicants and for the members of their family.
2. A child whose parents reside in different States shall have the right to maintain on a regular basis, save in exceptional circumstances personal relations and direct contacts with both parents. Towards that end and in accordance with the obligation of States Parties under Article 9, paragraph 1, States Parties shall respect the right of the child and his or her parents to leave any country, including their own, and to enter their own country. The right to leave any country shall be subject only to such restrictions as are prescribed by law and which are necessary to protect the national security, public order (ordre public), public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others and are consistent with the other rights recognized in the present Convention.

The core attributes of Article 10 are:

• Requests to enter or leave a country for family reunification should be dealt with in a positive, humane and expeditious manner
• Requests to enter or leave a country should entail no adverse consequences for the child, the parent or their familymembers
• Right to maintain relations and regular contact with both parents, if separated and residing in different states

Each of these attributes can be measured in terms of structural or process implementation or in terms of outcomes achieved through implementation as outlined in the table below. Some indicators, for instance the structural ones, may be common to all attributes. Others are common to two or more attributes, while some indicators may be relevant to one attribute only. An attempt has been made to balance the use of objective and subjective data indicators as well as qualitative and quantitative ones.

These are some ideas that children from around the world shared with us during the Global Child Rights Dialogue (GCRD) project:

1. Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.
   • Target 10.7 Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well managed migration policies.

• Developing Indicators for the protection, respect and promotion of the rights of the child in the European Union, FRA
• Government departments, universities and other training institutions
• International Office of Migration (IOM) data sets on Unaccompanied minors (UAMs)
• National data sets on orphaned and abandoned children
• National data sets on placement of children into state care
• Primary research by national human rights institutions for children
• Primary research by universities and NGOs
• Qualitative research with children on their knowledge of and experience in the exercise of their rights 
• Surveys of parents on knowledge of their responsibilities as parents and the right of the child

1. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed., pp. 135-16.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
2. Derrick, S. (1992). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Guide to the “Travaux Préparatoires” (pp.182-207). Dordrecht, NL: Martinus Nijhoff Publisher.

• Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2017). 2017 Kids Count Data Book. State trends in child well-being. Baltimore, United States of America: The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
• D’hondt, S. & Péters, C. (2016). National indicators of the rights of the child: Make them count. Retrieved from the Belgian National Child Rights Commission website: https://ncrk-cnde.be/en/projects/nouvelle-traduction-20-indicateurs-nationaux-droits-de-l-enfant/
• European Union. (n.d.). European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS). Retrieved from https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/european-quality-of-life-surveys
• International Organization for Migration (IOM), IMO’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre & UK aid. (2016). Children and unsafe migration in Europe: Data and policy, understanding the evidence base (ISSN 2415-1653). Retrieved from https://gmdac.iom.int/gmdac-data-briefing-children-and-unsafe-migration-europe-data-and-policy-understanding-evidence-base
• Missing Child Europe. (2018). Figures and Trends Report 2017. Retrieved from http://missingchildreneurope.eu/annual-reports/categoryid/0/documentid/444
• New Brunswick Child Rights Indicators Framework
• The Child Protection Initiative, Save the Children. (2014). Child Protection Outcome Indicators. Retrieved from https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/child-protection-outcome-indicators
• United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed., pp.186). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
• United Nations Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) (2012). Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation (HR/PUB/12/5). Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Human_rights_indicators_en.pdf

Child-friendly justice
Child-friendly justice refers to “justice systems which guarantee the respect and the effective implementation of all children’s rights at the highest attainable level, bearing in mind the principles listed below and giving due consideration to the child’s level of maturity and understanding and the circumstances of the case. It is, in particular, justice that is accessible, age appropriate, speedy, diligent, adapted to and focused on the needs and rights of the child, respecting the rights of the child including the rights to due process, to participate in and to understand the proceedings, to respect for private and family life and to integrity and dignity” (The Council of Europe, 2011).

Children on the move
Children moving for a variety of reasons, voluntarily or involuntarily, within or between countries, with or without their parents or other primary caregivers, and whose movement, while it may open up opportunities, might also place them at risk (or at an increased risk) of economic or sexual exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence” (The Inter-Agency Working Group on Children on the Move).

Children on the move could be: migrating in search of opportunities but without prior authorization to enter the destination country, and at an increased risk of exploitation; exploited in the context of migration, particularly through trafficking; fleeing dangerous situations and seeking asylum.

Children on the move are entitled to all the rights in the CRC and are also entitled to a set of rights under the migration process. The legal frameworks that apply to children on the move include: (a) The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), (b) The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and (c) The 1951 Refugee Convention.

Country of origin
In the migration context, a country of nationality or of former habitual residence of a person or group of persons who have migrated abroad, irrespective of whether they migrate regularly or irregularly.

Family reunification
The process of bringing together families, particularly children and elderly dependents with previous care providers for the purpose of establishing or re-establishing long-term care. Separation of families occurs most often during armed conflicts or massive displacements of people. CRC Article 10(1).

Note: States Parties are required to deal with applications by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State Party for the purpose of family reunification in a positive, humane and expeditious manner. (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2000).

Maintain relations
Articles 7 and 8 of the CRC protect the child’s right to an identity including the right to “know and be cared for by his or her parents” and the right “to preserve his or her identity, including … family relations”. Article 9 protects the child’s right not to be separated from his or her parents unless competent authorities determine that it is necessary to do so in the child’s best interest, and even when separated children have a right “to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis”. This emphasis on maintaining personal relations with family reappears in several contexts, in articles 10, 19, and 22. It may include maintaining ties through regular visits, through phone calls, video-calls, or other telecommunications methods and also include expediting family reunification, as in the case of unaccompanied migrant children – but not in any case by means of returning a child to a country where there is a real risk of irreparable harm to the child (United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2005).

Regular contact
Article 9 CRC: “States Parties shall respect the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to maintain personal relations and direct con-tact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child’s best interests.” (United Nations General Assembly, 1989).

“This also extends to any person holding custody rights, legal or customary primary caregivers, foster parents and persons with whom the child has a strong personal relationship. ” (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2013).

“The quality of the relationships and the need to retain them must be taken into consideration in decisions on the frequency and length of visits and other contact when a child is placed outside the family.”

Safe third country
A country in which an asylum-seeker could have had access to an effective asylum regime, and in which he/she has been physically present prior to arriving in the country in which she/he is applying for asylum (UNHCR, 2006).