Advancing Children’s Right to Migration in Canada: Assessing the Participatory Rights of Unaccompanied Children in their Refugee Claim Process
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41503Keywords:
children's rights, children's participation, the Lundy Model, unaccompanied minors, Canadian Border Services Agency, Immigration and Refugee Board of CanadaAbstract
This paper applies Laura Lundy’s model for children’s participation to conduct a critical examination into the participatory rights of unaccompanied children as they encounter the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada. The findings of this study reveal that while more child-adaptable measures are implemented by the IRB in contrast to the CBSA, each institution requires addressing significant gaps in children’s rights to specifically uphold the participatory rights of unaccompanied children throughout their refugee claim process in Canada.
Metrics
References
Agamben, G. (2005). State of exception. University of Chicago Press.
Arendt, H. (1967). The origins of totalitarianism. Allen & Unwin.
Bhabha, J. (2007). Un “vide juridique”?—Migrant children: The rights and wrongs. In C. Bellamy & J. Zermatten (Eds.), Realizing the rights of the child (pp. 206–219). Rüffer & Rub.
Bhabha, J., & Young, W. (1999). Not adults in miniature: Unaccompanied child asylum seekers and the new U.S. guidelines. International Journal of Refugee Law, 11(1), 84–125. https://doi-org.proxy1.lib.trentu.ca/10.1093/ijrl/11.1.84
Christensen, P., & James, A. (2008). Introduction: Researching children and childhood cultures of communication. In P. Christensen & A. James (Eds.), Research with children: Perspectives and practices (pp. 1–15). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203964576
Collins, T. M. (2024). Children’s rights in professional practices with children and youth. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802202359
Committee on the Rights of the Children. (2013, May 29). General comment no. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1)*. United Nations. https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/gc/crc_c_gc_14_eng.pdf
Council on Foreign Relations. (2024, October 19). Migration today. https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/migration-today
Crock, M. E. (2013). Of relative rights and putative children: Rethinking the critical framework for the protection of refugee children and youth. Australian International Law Journal, 20, 33–53. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2368079
Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). International norm dynamics and political change. International Organization, 52(4)), 887–917. https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898550789
Gharabaghi, K. (2022). Research and the field of child and youth care: An invitation. Canadian Scholars.
Hanson, K., & Nieuwenhuys, O. (2012). Living rights, social justice, translations. In K. Hanson & O. Nieuwenhuys (Eds.), Reconceptualizing children’s rights in international development: Living rights, social justice, translations (pp. 3–26). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139381796
Hart, J. (2008).Children’s participation and international development: Attending to the political. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 16(3), 407–418. https://doi.org/10.1163/157181808X311231
Hoffman, S., & Stern, R. T. (2020). Incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in national law. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 28(1), 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-02801001
Holzscheiter, A. (2010) Children’s rights in international politics: The transformative power of discourse. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281646
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. (1996, September 30). Guideline 3—Child refugee claimants: Procedural and evidentiary issues. https://www.refworld.org/policy/legalguidance/irbc/1996/en/13531
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. (2024, May 15). Refugee claim statistics. https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/protection/Pages/index.aspx
James, A., & Prout, A. (1990). Constructing and reconstructing childhood: Contemporary issues in the sociological study of childhood. Falmer Press.
Kanics, J. (2016). Challenges and progress in ensuring the right to be heard and the best interests of children seeking international protection. Refuge:Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 32(3), 18–29. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40341
Lundy, L. (2007). “Voice” is not enough: Conceptualising article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 927–942. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701657033
Pobjoy, J. (2017). The child in international refugee law. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316798430
Sadoway, G. (2018). Protection measures for unaccompanied child migrants in Canada. In M. Crock and L. B. Benson (Eds.), Protecting migrant children: In search of best practice (pp. 299–318). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786430267.00026
Tasker, J. P. (2024, November 22). Feds want $411 million to cover refugee health care as the number of new arrivals soar. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/refugee-health-care-costs-sevenfold-increase-1.7389847
UNHCR. (2009, December). Guidelines on international protection no. 8: Child asylum claims under articles 1(A)2 and 1(F) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. United Nations. https://www.unhcr.org/media/guidelines-international-protection-no-8-child-asylum-claims-under-articles-1-2-and-1-f-1951
UNHCR. (n.d.). About UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr
UNHCR. (1997, February 1). Guidelines on policies and procedures in dealing with unaccompanied children seeking asylum. https://www.unhcr.org/media/guidelines-policies-and-procedures-dealing-unaccompanied-children-seeking-asylum
UNICEF. (n.d.). Convention on the rights of the child: For every child, every right. https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (1989, November 20). Convention on the rights of the child. United Nations. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
United Nations Treaty Collection. (n.d.a). 5. Protocol relating to the status of refugees. https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=V-5&chapter=5&clang=_en
United Nations Treaty Collection. (n.d.b). 11. Convention on the rights of the child. https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&clang=_en
Wyness, M. (2013). Children’s participation and intergenerational dialogue: Bringing adults back into the analysis. Childhood, 20(4), 429–442. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568212459775
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Dustin Ciufo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.
