Listen to thisStories of a sudden "surge" in unaccompanied children fleeing Central America and Mexico for the United States dominated the headlines last summer. President Barack Obama called it a humanitarian crisis and ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate an emergency response.
But the United States is not alone among the developed and developing economies in facing problems associated with unaccompanied migrant children, some not yet in their teens. The issue is confronting policymakers around the globe and challenging a number of established societal assumptions about childhood.
Defining childhood differently
Data presented by Torres, Blue and Swanson, taken from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, show that apprehensions of children under age 17 at the Rio Grande section of the border rose from about 14,000 to about 38,000 from 2013 to 2014.
During the same period, however, apprehensions of youth at border crossings in California and Arizona remained static or fell slightly. Fewer Mexican youth attempted to cross the border last year, while the number of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala rose in 2014.
The panelists agreed that more research is needed on the serious physical and mental health consequences of child migration.
"We have to realize that these are children migrating, in increasing numbers, below the age of 12," said Swanson, an associate professor of geography. "They have taken remarkable and often treacherous journeys to the U.S.- Mexico border. Many are escaping conditions of poverty and extreme violence. With numbers expected to rise in the coming year, the question remains: what will happen to these young people?"
Ramona Pérez, professor of anthropology and director of SDSU's Center for Latin American Studies, also suggested that the traditional definition of childhood may not apply to the increasing population of unaccompanied minors.
"We have to think of childhood differently when dealing with these young people," she said. "They haven't had the same beginning as U.S. children. Their understandings of childhood, responsibility and the future are shaped by environments of survival. You can't attempt to integrate them without first addressing the traumas they have been through and the burdens of responsibility they carry. Most of our systems for refugee children are not yet equipped to address this important issue."
28 January 2015
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-youth-migration-definitions-childhood.html
