Marisa O. Ensor

Introduction: Migrant Children at the Crossroads

In the globalized world of the twenty-first century, migration has become a powerful social force affecting families and individuals of all ages. The precise number of migrant children is unknown, but commentators have argued that “in some countries the percentage of young people migrating can be as high as 50 percent” (Dall’Oglio, 2008: 1). A World Bank study estimated that 330,000 children between 6 and 17 years of age—9.5 percent—lived away from their parents (Kielland and Sanogo, 2002). Of these, 160,000 had migrated for work. Some child migrants cross international borders; others migrate within their countries of origin. Some are fleeing persecution by oppressive governments or recruitment by insurgent guerillas. Others are victims of abuse, caught up in human trafficking operations for sexual or labor exploitation. Still others migrate in search of family reunification or are motivated by social imaginaries which include the possibility of a better life elsewhere. Indeed, many youngsters migrate willingly and perceive the migratory experience as an opportunity to enhance their social and economic status, as well as facilitating their transition to adulthood (Jeffrey and McDowell, 2004; Punch, 2007).

Conclusions: The Next Generation of African Children

More than a decade and a half ago, Donal Cruise-O’Brien (1996) declared African children and youth to be “a lost generation.” His concern was echoed by later scholarship in acknowledgment of the enormous socioeconomic and political forces still surrounding the lives of young people in Africa (Abbink and Van Kessel 2005; Honwana and De Boeck 2005), including the persistent violence experienced during the turbulent post-Cold War period. “The notorious genocide and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and to some extent Burundi, civil war in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Cote D’Ivoire and Somalia, minority uprisings in Nigeria, and separatist agitation in Cameroon and Senegal” (Osaghae and Robinson 2005, 1) are some examples of conflicts that often affected children worst. One must, however, be cautious about situating the whole African continent in one single descriptive trajectory. While in some parts of Africa violence and hardship have become, to an extent, normalized, many others are currently undergoing enormous sociopolitical transformations leading towards the (re)establishment of peace and prosperity. Many important achievements have marked the tumultuous first decade of the new century. The year 2010 saw 17 African countries celebrate 50 years of independence, while a new state, the Republic of South Sudan, was born on July 9, 2011, bringing the total number of African nations to 54.

Refugee Girls and Boys and the Dilemmas of (Un)Sustainable Return to South Sudan

This chapter discusses the repatriation, reintegration, and renewed forced displacement experienced by the young population of South Sudan in response to the successive episodes of political violence that continue to ravage their country. It focuses on the role played by displaced young girls and boys as they find themselves differentially situated vis-a-vis the various determinants of conflict-induced mobility. The research revealed that, even before the most recent resurgence of conflict, intergenerational tensions were deepening owing to many displaced youngsters’ aspirations to a “modern”—often meaning urban—way of life perceived as incompatible with traditional livelihoods and social relations. Recent events highlight the need to revisit the traditional notions of repatriation as a durable solution, and to address more adequately gendered and intergenerational differences regarding reintegration needs and aspirations.

Introduction: Durable Solutions During Transient Years

Ensor and Goździak open this book by outlining the most salient themes emerging in the current wave of international interest in children during forced migration. Scholarship, policy, programming, and advocacy efforts undertaken on behalf of these youngsters and their families have remained fragmented, with forms of child displacement often treated in isolation from one another. At the same time, interventions have continued to be dominated by a state-centric, sedentarist mentality that also has tended to ignore intergenerational and gender-based differences in the experiences of young forced migrants. This chapter lays out the structure of the book and introduces the subsequent contributions. Contributors examine the progress and challenges facing worldwide efforts to protect forcibly displaced children and youth in a variety of contexts, attending especially to the juxtaposition between the transience of childhood and the so-called “durable solutions” to forced migration.

The Way Forward: Conclusions and Recommendations

At the beginning of the second decade of the 3rd millennium, the global forces that have propelled the increasing pace of human mobility show no signs of abating. In 2005, there were some 191 million international migrants worldwide, nearly two-and-a-half times the figure in 1965 (UN DESA, 2006). In 2008, only three years later, the number of international migrants was already in excess of 200 million (IOM, 2008: 2). Migration has indeed become a ubiquitous global phenomenon shaping the economic, social, and cultural life of every country. Both international and internal migration patterns are becoming increasingly complex as they connect individuals and communities in an expanding variety of personal circumstances and social arrangements.