Research Methodology; International and National Frameworks for the Protection of Children on the Move

The publication is produced within the project of Social Protection Reform of the World Fit for Children initiated by the international organisation Save the Children in 2012 in cooperation with the civil society organisations, NGO Atina and Group 484, funded by the European Commission, Open Society Fund and Save the Children. The term “children on the move” although new, implies the well-known phenomena of migrating children who are exposed to various risks during these migrations. These are “children that for various reasons, willingly or forcefully, within the country or across countries, with or without parents or guardians migrate, and who are exposed to risks of inadequate care, economic and sexual exploitation, negligence and violence while on the move” (Save the Children). This definition also implies different groups of children: refugees, internally displaced children, asylum seekers, irregular migrants, victims of human trafficking, children living and working in the streets, returnees under the readmission process. The subject of the research is the current policy for and practice in the protection of children on the move in Serbia who, for various reasons, willingly or forcefully within the country or between countries, with or without parents or guardians migrate and are possibly exposed to risks of inadequate care, exploitation, neglect and violence. The goal of the research is to get an insight into and ensure better understanding of the phenomenon of children on the move in Serbia, identification of the existing services and practices as well as formulating recommendations for improvement of the welfare system in order to adequately meet the increasing need to provide the support to children on the move and to secure exercising of the rights of the child. Specifically, the research questions are: i) What are the existing international standards and instruments for the protection of children on the move?; ii) What is the existing national normative framework for the protection of children on the move?; iii) What is the perspective of children on the move in terms of exercising the rights of the child?; iv) How professionals who work in the fields relevant for the children on the move understand and assess this phenomenon?; v) How was the phenomenon of children on the move manifested in the period 2008 – 2011 in Serbia?; vi) What is the perspective of children in terms of migrations, what are their experiences?; vii) What programmes and services are available: what are the mandates and programmes of different service providers, what are the existing cooperation mechanisms between different actors: what are the internal rules of treatment, practice and procedures of service providers and what are the existing obstacles for the quality protection?; viii) What are opinions of children on the move in terms of support, programmes and services they need? An interdisciplinary framework of research methods has been used: i) Analysis of primary and secondary sources – international policies and instruments, reports of state organs, legislative documents and public policies that concern with the children on the move; ii) Semi-structured in-in-depth interviews and focus groups interviews with the representatives of the state institutions and organisations of civil society, both with professionals directly engaged in working with children, and with those who deal with creation of policies and decision making in the field of protection of children on the move; iii) Focus group and half-structured interviews with children from the most representative category of children on the move in Serbia: children who seek asylum; children returned upon the procedure of readmission, children that migrate in the country, children victims of human trafficking.