Zeratsion, Shshay Yhdego (2015) Children in Exile: Exploring the Situation of Eritrean Unaccompanied Refugee Children in Ethiopia: -The Case of Mai-Ayni Refugee Camp, Northern Ethiopia. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.
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Abstract
It is estimated that unaccompanied children constitute 2-5 percent of the refugee population. Though every refugee is exposed to various human rights violations and risks, unaccompanied refugee children stand at greater risk of all. Recently, Eritrean unaccompanied children are fleeing into Ethiopia and live in different refugee camps found in the Northern part. Nonetheless, a study about this group of refugees is very limited. Thus, this study is aimed at exploring the situation of these children in Ethiopia through the case study of Mai-Ayni refugee camp from a human rights perspective. It particularly tries to look at the reasons for departure, the journey process with particular reference to decision to leave, journey arrangement and challenges/risks during journey, the situation of the children once they arrived in Mai-Ayni refugee camp and their futurity in terms of a durable solution. Qualitative methods were employed to explore the situations of the children. In doing so, the data were gathered through in-depth interview with unaccompanied refugee children, key informants interview, FGD, personal observation and document analysis. Results of this study reveal that the children have fled to Ethiopia because of fear of the ongoing forced military conscription, economic problem, educational problem, family reunification, peer pressure and hope of resettlement and transit into other state. The study also shows that most of unaccompanied refugee children decide to leave Eritrea by themselves without the knowledge of their parents and some by the decision of their parents using the service of brokers/smugglers. Further, results indicate that the children experience terrible challenges to escape from Eritrea principally caused by strong military surveillance on the Eritrean government side which operates on “shoot-to-kill policy” to those fleeing the state. Moreover, the results of this study show that children are afforded with basic facilities such as food, education, health and psycho-social support in Mai-Ayni refugee camp. In addition the children are assigned with social worker as guardians and enjoy the rights to participation in a child parliament. However, they are affected by depression, longing and nostalgia for their parents and anxiety about the future. Durable solutions that end the children stress and anxiety are rather scarce, with only one option-resettlement. This situation makes the futurity of the children invisible and problematic. Consequently, unaccompanied refugee children involve into secondary movement to Sudan and through this route to Libya and finally reach Europe. During this second journey, the children are exposed to a multitude of human rights violation including sexual abuse to female children, sometimes extending to males, forced labor and other psychical damage.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Refugee, Children, Unaccompanied Children, Unaccompanied Refugee Children, Mai-Ayni Refugee Camp. |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JA Political science (General) |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Emmanuel Ndorimana |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jun 2018 10:14 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jun 2018 10:14 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4542 |
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