Alone in a Strange Land: Unaccompanied Minors and Issues of Protection

ID:	HARP-531
Title:	Alone in a Strange Land: Unaccompanied Minors and Issues of Protection
Source:	Canadian Ethnic Studies, Jan2001, Vol. 33 Issue 1, p102, 18p
Parties:
Dispute Resolution Organ:
Year:	2001
Pages:	0
Author(s):
Keywords:	Canada, economic, social, and cultural rights, human rights, movement and residency, Quebec, civil and political rights, refugee, security, liberty, family
Abstract:	Unaccompanied minors are young refugees under the age of eighteen who have been separated from their parents and who arrive in Canada unaccompanied by a legal guardian. In Quebec, between 200 and 300 unaccompanied minors arrive every year. While several studies have documented obstacles to integration for adult refugees, relatively little is known about the life situations of unaccompanied minors. The following paper looks more closely at this group: the history of unaccompanied minors in general, their profile and migratory trajectories, and some of the special intervention issues relating to them. The analysis is based on individual and group interviews with eighteen social practitioners working with unaccompanied minors in Montreal. The study reveals the interface between factors of protection and of risk for this population, particularly in relation to placement and school networks, and concludes that these youth should not only be considered as victims of a world gone wrong, but also as actors in their own histories.
Secured:	False
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