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What are the causes and consequences of the phenomenon of left-behind children in China? Found out about more by listening to the stories of some of these children. 
Resources on enpowering civil society as a EU-China co-operative endevour. Learn more about the series of EU-China Dialogues! PPT presentations and reports from the 4th EU-China Dialogue on 'Left-Behind Children: Problesm and Solutions' will be posted soon. 
The EU has at least 500,000 million children left behind, it was claimed at a recent conference supported by the European Parliament. Most are concentrated in few eastern countries and regions, though.
Find out more on the representatives of national and local authorities from EU Member States, representatives of national and European NGOs, and academics who attended the event and the ongoing advocacy initiatives they support. There were about 58 million left-behind children in China as for 2007, and 40 million were under 15 years old, a study conducted in that year by the All-China Women's Federation reported.
Touching 'family pictures' of Chinese migrants who have left their kids and elderly behind. One of these Xinhua pictures has recently been awarded the third place in the 2011 Picture of the Year international competion (see http://www.poyi.org/69/09/third_01.php ) A recent episode of violence in a rural kindergarten highlights the lowly status of Chinese preschool teachers and the general underfunding of rural preschool education.
Left behind in Moldova: documents
This website offers an ongoing photographic reportage of children left behind in Moldova. See also the author's blog on http://leftbehindmoldova.wordpress.com/. 
More than 23 million "left-behind" children are under the age of five and may suffer from psychological disorders due to lack of parental care, it was reported at the recent “2011 International Conference on Early Childhood Development” (15-16 November). 
Do EU countries and other OECD countries make it easy family reunion for their immigrants? Do they address their children's needs (including education)? Well, not always.
Find out more by playing with MIPEX, 'a fully interactive tool and reference guide to assess, compare and improve integration policy' led by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group.
The geography of 'abandonment'
52% left-behind children live in the rural areas of 6 provinces: Sichuan, Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi (in light blue). Guangxi, Hubei, Guizhou and Jiangsu (in yellow) have also large number of these children. Map based on the data of the 2005 By-Census. Source: Parents migrate, their young children stay with grandparents, great-grandparents or any other relatives, The Los Angeles Times reports 
Bērnu forums is a Latvian NGO specialised in advocacy and capacity building. It works closely with the national and local government to promote children's righs and has raised the issue of guardianship of children left behind. Pre-schools children left behind are more likely to pull their parents back to the village, and so are sons, a joined study of two academics of the Université de Lyon and the East China Normal University founds out. Read more. |
Children Left Behind in an International Comparative Perspective
There is no doubt that international and internal migration has contributed to lift millions out of poverty. However, it is also affecting the life of many children, as their parents often chose to migrate without them. The EU and China have both their share of children left behind. Find here resource useful to compare problems and and identify positive initiatives to support these children in both regions. A UNICEF report on the global phenomenon of children left behind analyses the impact of migration on children, families and comunities in a comprehensive way. With suggestions for advocacy and social policy-making. Read the latest scholarly research on children left behind on this Child Migration Research Network based at the University of Sussex. 
The plight of children left behind in Central and Eastern Europe is raised at the 6th annual European Forum on the Rights of the Child (Brussels, 23 November 2011). Parental choices as well as EU member states social policies are confirmed serious obstacles to the migration of family units. (Additional details on the event on http://ec.europa.eu/justice/events/child-forum/index.html) This article reports on the psychosocial development of children in rural China, comparing the outcomes of children of migrant parents and children of non-migrant ones. The study also looks at health and education. 
Read this independent review of the “Social Inclusion of Children Left Behind by Migrating Parents” Project, implemented by the Child Rights Information Centre, Moldova. Find out about key European NGOs working to promote child wellbeing and children's rights. 
To know more, read this comprehensive report on the impact of migration on children's life in China.
Any suggestions?
Do you you have additional information on children left behind in Europe and in China that we can add to this website? Post it here. 
Guizhou Xiuwen left-behind children experience dire poverty. Read more 
A comment on the recent case of Long Zhanghuan, the schoolgirl who was photographed taking care of her younger brother during class, and the social impact of Chinese modernization. |
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