'More than 200 million live outside home countries'

MANILA, Philippines – With more than 200 million people now working and living outside their own country, a United Nations migration expert said attention must be drawn to existing protection and policy gaps which adversely affect “children left behind,” “children on the move,” and “children in host countries.”

In his 2009 report to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante said countless number of children are among the more than 200 million people who now live outside their own country and are affected by migration in many different ways.

Bustamante said the scale of international migration has substantially increased in recent years and become a truly global phenomenon.

“The protection of children is necessary and essential at all stages of the migration process,” he said.

The UN expert’s report focuses on children and migration, drawing attention to existing protection and policy gaps which adversely affect children left behind, on the move, and in host countries.

He said these gaps include the lack of specific provisions on children in most migration laws, and that public policies concerning minors often neglect the specific conditions and needs of migrant children.