Gender, Children and Youth in Migration

Children in mixed migration are a hidden group within an already hard-to-reach population; access to children, and even more so to unaccompanied children, is often very limited making it difficult to know about and respond to their needs. In addition, children and youth are not a homogenous group: babies, young children and adolescents have very different characteristics and needs. 

Children and youth can be exposed to violence, exploitation, or separation from families during journeys that interrupt their education and development. Undocumented children often cannot access healthcare, schooling, or social services in transit or destination countries, and legal and administrative barriers make them effectively “invisible” to protection systems. Caregivers travelling with children must balance safety and affordability, such as choosing between dangerous and costly routes. Limited access to child-adapted services, healthcare, and psychosocial support compounds these pressures.

For many women, migration is both a necessity and an act of survival and determination – a way to seek work, education, or better opportunities, and to escape conflict, gender-based violence and social discrimination. Yet violence and exploitation frequently continue along migration routes. Because of systemic gender imbalances and discrimination, women face heightened risks of sexual harassment, abuse, and trafficking. Routes with particularly high-risk areas include those through Libya and the Darién Gap. Many women also travel with children, which shapes their choices and can increase their exposure to danger.

Women also face specific health needs. There are often barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare, and while on the move refugee and migrant women may lack privacy and supplies to manage menstruation adequately or to breastfeed their children.  Pregnant women on the move often lack adequate access to medical care. Disproportionately baring the responsibility for the primary care of children, women often balance work and family responsibilities. Along migration routes this increases the pressures and potential vulnerability women face. Women adopt practical strategies to stay safe and navigate risks — preparing for travel, seeking reliable information, and forming networks of mutual support.

People of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities (SOGIESC) often migrate to escape criminalisation, discrimination, or violence. Yet identity-based persecution and exclusion frequently continue throughout their journeys and in host countries. Trans women in particular face extreme targeting, including sexual violence and killings, while many  people with diverse SOGIESC are forced to conceal their identity to avoid abuse — a strategy that leads to isolation and psychological distress. 

For people with diverse SOGIESC, violence comes from many sources — not only host communities, authorities and criminal groups – but also from within the refugee and migrant communities too — reflecting the pervasiveness of SOGIESC-based discrimination. Access to safe shelters, psychosocial care, and legal protection is extremely limited and many face discrimination or barriers to accessing mainstream refugee and migrant services. MMC’s research aims to help close the evidence gap on the experiences of SOGIESC migrants and refugees, calling for inclusive, rights-based responses that ensure safety and dignity for all.