Published 4 May 2026 · Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP) · Youth statement · Global Youth Consultation
In this statement, children and young migrants from across the world set out what they live through and what they demand. Drawn from MYCP's Global Youth Consultation, it covers access to health and education, climate mobility, and detention, trafficking and labour migration, and calls on States to guarantee services regardless of status, end child immigration detention and put young migrants at the centre of solutions.
The future is ours to build, together.
Children and young migrants, MYCP Youth StatementIn our words
"We, children and young migrants, exist in a world where migration is a lived and urgent reality, shaped both by necessity and by the pursuit of safety, education, dignity, and opportunity."
Children and youth are on the move because of conflict, inequality and, increasingly, climate change. Across continents, they meet the same barriers and the same systems that fail to see them fully. This statement brings their stories together into one call for action.
Access to basic health and education
Without documents, young migrants are locked out of school, healthcare and protection, from North Africa and West Africa to Central America and Europe. Fear of deportation, discrimination and being turned away stops them seeking help, and language barriers, racism and cultural insensitivity make care harder still, especially for young women.
"We demand education that cannot be denied because of where we come from or the documents we don't have."
Climate
Droughts are taking livelihoods and forcing families to move, often into crowded cities with little work and shrinking services. Early warning systems and local adaptation exist, but they are not reaching everyone, and responses still come too late.
"Climate mobility is a survival strategy."
Detention, human trafficking and labour migration
Along corridors from West Africa to Europe and from South Asia to South-West Asia and North Africa, young people move for work without clear information. They sign contracts they don't understand, face withheld wages, endless hours and confiscated passports, and stay silent because speaking out feels too risky.
"Detention is not protection, and it must end."
Our call to action
Access for all, regardless of status: physical and mental healthcare, education and social protection, with universal health coverage that is culturally sensitive, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive and free from discrimination.
End child immigration detention everywhere, now.
Open safe, legal pathways, with clear routes, fair procedures and information young people can understand.
Recognise climate mobility in legal frameworks and guarantee protection for people displaced by climate.
Invest in multilingual, youth-friendly information: centralised digital platforms, pre-departure education on labour rights and transparent recruitment.
Change the narrative: young migrants are not a burden, but people with potential, resilience and the right to thrive.
Respond to gendered realities, including the extra barriers facing girls, young women and LGBTQIA+ youth.
Put youth at the centre: policies about young migrants must be shaped with, and by, young migrants themselves.
The failure to protect children and young migrants today is a failure to protect our shared future.
Who this is for
Member States, UN agencies, policymakers and civil society organisations working on migration, climate, health, education, labour and child protection.
Coverage: a youth statement from MYCP's Global Youth Consultation, drawing on young migrants' experiences across North Africa, West Africa, Central America, Europe, South Asia and South-West Asia and North Africa. May 2026.
How to cite
Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP). (2026). The future is ours to build, together: MYCP youth statement. https://mycpglobal.org/repository/imrf2026-statement
