Published 4 November 2026 · Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP) · Consultation report · Evidence for the EVAC policy paper
This report sets out what young people told the Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP) in its October 2026 Global Youth Consultation on Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC). It is the evidence MYCP used to write its EVAC policy paper for the Second Global Ministerial Conference. Across five regions, contributors described protection that exists on paper but fails in practice: children on the move cannot reach it safely, trust it or keep using it after they move again.
Connecting lived experience with policy and practice
MYCP works to give children, young people and youth-led organisations real influence over migration and displacement policy. Through advocacy, research, capacity strengthening and partnerships, it links the experiences of young people affected by migration with the institutions responsible for protecting their rights.
Its contribution to ending violence against children starts from one proposition: prevention has to deal with the systems, inequalities and institutional barriers that shape children's experiences before, during and after migration. Children on the move may face trafficking, exploitation, family separation, gender-based violence and unsafe recruitment. Whether they can seek protection depends on whether they can reach education, healthcare, psychosocial support and trusted reporting mechanisms without discrimination or fear.
This consultation shifts the question from whether commitments and services exist in principle to whether children can safely use them, and shape them, in practice. Read more on why we connect lived experiences with policy and practice.
How the consultation worked
MYCP ran the consultation in October 2026 across five regions: Africa; Asia-Pacific; Latin America and the Caribbean; North America and Europe; and South-West Asia and North Africa. It used three formats: written submissions, which drew more than 100 responses; live consultations, including eight multilingual live rooms and thematic roundtables; and a follow-up Youth On The Move focus group discussion. Contributions came in eight languages.
Topics covered violence prevention in migration and displacement, safe and inclusive education, healthcare, detention, trafficking and labour migration, youth- and survivor-informed decision-making, and financing for child protection. The analysis also draws on MYCP's GCM Youth Consultations, which reached 812 young people on the move in 2024–25, bringing the youth contributions behind MYCP's positions to more than 900.
Key findings
Protection depends on access, trust and continuity. Missing documents, language exclusion, unaffordable services, discrimination, fear of authorities and broken referrals reinforce one another and keep children from support.
Support can exist without reaching anyone. One displaced university student lived in a new area for more than eight months without being told about the assistance available to displaced students.
Enrolment is not safety. 9 of the 12 written submissions selected safe and inclusive education as a priority. Contributors described bullying, racism, isolation and missing records inside schools.
Being consulted is not the same as being heard. Contributors asked for participation that changes priorities, implementation and accountability, with feedback on what happened to their recommendations.
Community action needs professional backing. Youth-led and community initiatives build trust, but they need funding for safeguarding, supervision, interpretation, psychosocial support and follow-up, and cannot replace public child protection.
"My biggest concern is that we sometimes count children who are attending school without asking whether they actually feel safe, included, and heard." Student contributor
What young people asked for
Guarantee safe and continuous access to education, healthcare and child protection, with records, medication, case management and referrals that follow the child.
Fund prevention where children are, with predictable, flexible funding for community-based and youth-led initiatives alongside professional services.
Institutionalise meaningful youth participation in designing, implementing and monitoring EVAC strategies, and report back on how recommendations were used.
Measure whether protection works in practice, by tracking whether children reach services safely, complete referrals and report concerns without fear.
From this report to the policy paper
MYCP turned these findings into five priorities for the Second Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children (Manila, 18–19 November 2026). Read the EVAC policy paper.
Who this is for
Governments, donors, UN agencies, humanitarian actors and civil society organisations working on child protection, migration and displacement who want the youth evidence behind MYCP's EVAC positions.
How to cite
Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP). (2026). From consultation to protection: Youth-led evidence on ending violence against children on the move [Consultation report]. https://mycpglobal.org/repository/from-consultation-to-protection-evac-2026
