SOUTHERN AFRICA: Our Broken Dreams - Child Migration in Southern Africa

[29 April 2008] - Children who travel alone across southern Africa have told how they have been beaten by authorities, had their possessions confiscated and been vulnerable to sexual abuse. In Our Broken Dreams: Child Migration in Southern Africa, a new book published by Save the Children, children tell their own stories to highlight the dangers they face when crossing borders alone in Mozambique and across the region.

Children were interviewed in Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, where in some cases the numbers of unaccompanied child migrants has reached alarming levels.

Boys and girls as young as 12 shared their experiences. Unaccompanied children without documented status are vulnerable to sexual abuse, exploitative labour and have little or no access to school or health care because of a lack of documentation. When caught by the authorities, they are often beaten, their possessions confiscated, imprisoned with adults and then repatriated, even though there are supposed to be laws to protect them.

One of the children in the book said:

“The way people from here are treated when you don’t have the right documentation, they will be seeing you as an animal. They don’t even want to see you walking in their country if you don’t have a passport with a visa or an ID or work permit. They give you really hard work and the money you would have agreed on they can call the police who will then come and pick you up. You can get deported without getting anything.”

Chris McIvor, Save the Children programme director in Mozambique, said:

“These are the voices of real children, and they are saying clearly that we must do more to protect them. Unaccompanied child migrants are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, but this is an issue which has slipped through the cracks of public concern in southern Africa and around the world.

“Although numbers are difficult to estimate because of the ‘illegality’ of much of the cross border movement of children, indications are that this affects tens of thousands of children every year.”

Children involved in providing their stories for this book called for several things. These include:

• Being better protected by Governments in other countries;
• Teaching other children and communities about the dangerous realities of living alone in another country;
• Stopping the abuse, imprisonment and repatriation of foreign unaccompanied children by the authorities.

Many children explained that they were unaware of the dangers they would face when travelling without documentation across borders.

Chris McIvor said: “We have also produced a children’s magazine which will be distributed to young people in various countries to inform them about what they can expect if they leave home without proper documentation and parental protection. While this might not deter children from leaving because of their desperate economic situation, it is our hope that at least they will be better prepared for what they might encounter.”

Further information

• Mozambique: A Bridge Across the Zambezi (Save the Children UK - Mozambique, March 2006)
• CRIN resource pages: Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe