DCI aims to ensure that all children on the move benefit from appropriate protection measures and can claim their rights.
More than 34.7 million children are on the move around the world each year. Children on the move face many potential dangers, such as violence, including institutional violence by state actors or agents, abuse, exploitation, discrimination, separation from their families, trafficking, smuggling, and military recruitment.
DCI aims to ensure that all children on the move can benefit from protection measures in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, enjoy full realisation of their human rights according to the principle of non-discrimination, and have the possibility to advocate for their best interests, specially in accessing services such as legal assistance, access to justice, access to education, family reunification procedures, and protection from all forms of violence.
The long-term objective is to defend children on the move, who face variable challenges specific to their individual circumstances and their (perceived) status, to help ensure that they benefit from appropriate protection measures, and are empowered to claim all their rights.
Our Work
Our Role
We are committed to defending children’s rights under any circumstances. With this objective, our work focuses on the following actions:
- Tracking and monitoring developments in the UN agencies as they address issues affecting refugees, migrants, victims of trafficking, and asylum seekers
- Advocacy and promotion efforts within national coalitions to forge stronger partnerships for communicating with relevant authorities
- Provide broader services for refugees and migrants
- Direct assistance to children on the move and strategic litigation to defend emblematic cases in front of the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice
- Awareness-raising and capacity-building programmes for professionals working with children, migration and law enforcement officers, social workers and other stakeholders
- Supporting the resilience of children on the move and promoting specific protection mechanisms such as guardianship
- Promoting the effective and efficient participation of migrant children in all subjects affecting them
- Promoting joint action of DCI sections from countries of origin and countries of destination
International Level
Children on the move face heightened risk of exploitation, abuse, detention, exclusion, and barriers to essential services. On the international level, DCI responds through advocacy and systems strengthening to ensure that migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking, and stateless children can access protection, education, and justice, and participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives.
DCI is part of the Global Initiative on Child Rights, which works on the inclusion of child rights principles in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact for Refugees. DCI also participates in the Inter-Agency Working Group on Ending Child Immigration Detention, and regularly engage with other UN human rights mechanisms and agencies regarding children on the move.
National Level
From reception centres to community-based programmes, DCI supports children on the move to access protection, education, justice, and meaningful participation in their new communities. DCI advocates for systems to become more child-centred, inclusive, and rights-respecting.