Book Review: Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age by Jacqueline Bhabha
Migration affects millions of children and adolescents worldwide. At the end of 2016, 65.6 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations, more than half of whom were children (UNHCR 2018). Noting that this trend is likely to continue, that the issue of child migration is complex, and that children migrate for multiple reasons, Jacqueline Bhabha’s insightful and sobering reflection on this much-neglected issue in the global discourse goes far in shedding light on a “largely untold and unanalysed story” (p. 1). Recognizing that far too many child migrants are denied their rights and that there is little consideration for their needs as children, Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age illuminates the gaps in protection and in guaranteeing the rights of children and adolescents affected by migration. A key take-away from the book is that “child migrants need to be viewed as agents whose aspirations are relevant to institutional decision-making” (p. 10).