Paper short abstract:

Dominant advocacy narratives about child migration tend to emphasize children’s vulnerability and to depict them as victims of trafficking and exploitation. This paper challenges these globalized narratives by contrasting them with the localized experiences/voices of Haitian children living in the DR.

Paper long abstract:

Dominant advocacy narratives about child migration tend to emphasize children's vulnerability and to depict them as victims of human trafficking and exploitation. In fact, it has been assumed that child migration is a homogenous and inherently negative experience, that children are safest 'at home', that they don't play an active role in the migration process, and that the best way to protect them is to regulate their movement. Drawing on evidence from an ethnographic research integrating different participatory techniques with boys and girls (aged 9-17 years) of Haitian origin who have migrated illegally to the Dominican Republic, I intend to show that these prevailing assumptions should be reconsidered.

Frist, I will briefly portray the complexity and diversity of children's migration motives and experiences. Then, I will explore the multiple ways in which young people exert agency in the migration process. Finally, I will discuss how current interventions often conflict with children's best interests and are characterized by a mismatch between the imagined vulnerabilities of child migrants and the very real violations of their rights they experience in their daily lives. In other words, the aim of this paper is to challenge the dominant narratives and the globalized policy prescriptions about child migration by contrasting them with the localized experiences and voices of a group of young Haitian migrants. I situate my analysis within an emergent anthropology of childhood, a child-centered approach based on the recognition of young people's agency and dedicated to making it visible.