Children and irregular migration practices : missing children or missing data?

Abstract

In 2017, Europol reported that an estimated 10,000 migrant children had been identified as missing following their arrival in Europe.2 In the summer of 2018, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (US HHS), the whereabouts of 1,475 unaccompanied children who had become separated from their parents upon their arrival in the United States as a result of changes to migration policy were unknown. Both statements generated widespread condemnation and were followed by demands to restore the rights of the children as well as by coordinated efforts to locate them and reunite them with their families. The present contribution briefly summarizes what the claims attributing young people’s mobility efforts to organized criminal actors may hide and provides examples of efforts to collect improved data on young people’s migratory experiences and challenges.