The project emerges from a number of activities and conversations of the Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People (Swansea and Bangor Universities), the Centre for Migration Policy Research (Swansea University) and partners at University of Houston, Texas over several years, intensifying during 2015 – 16.
Migration is a complex phenomenon that includes a huge amount of quantitative and qualitative aspects, requiring interdisciplinary investigation and collaborative solutions at multiple levels of endeavour. The particular plight of children displaced across borders is part of a global humanitarian issue manifesting in human misery on a massive and increasing scale. Efforts towards coordinated responses whether on a bilateral, regional or global level, must engage not only with immediate and short-term logistical challenges but also underlying conceptual, geopolitical, legal, socio-economic and moral issues, the understanding and negotiation of which will determine the long-term efficacy of any measures aimed at relieving suffering and allowing for the re-building of lives.