Migrant children ‘suffer bullying and racist abuse’

MIGRANT children often ‘feel different’ and experience racism or bullying from peers, both within and outside school, a new study has found.

The UCC report Tell Me About Yourself explored the experiences of 190 migrant children and young people over three years, focusing on the young people’s own stories.

According to its authors, having friends and making connections with others is more important to migrant children than emphasising their national or ethnic differences.

And while migrant children do have their own views on national identity, which vary a lot, a desire to make new friends and to keep up old friendships is what dominates their stories.

Launched by leading commentator on migration and integration issues, Piaras MacÉinrí yesterday, the study is the first major piece of research to explore migrant children’s lives across different communities.

It states that migration policy and practice has a very real effect on how migrant children move and live here, and that low incomes in many migrant families, limited access to skilled employment for immigrants and state-run accommodation where asylum seekers live, all have a “profound effect” on children’s lives.

Living in state accommodation resulting in segregation from Irish children, and restrictions on family migration and on family reunification caused children to experience difficult family separations.

The research team, based in the Department of Geography at UCC, maintain there is an urgent need for migration and integration policies to recognise children’s perspectives.

Many migrant children reported feeling different, or being marked out as different, in their interactions with Irish children or with school structures, with some relating instances of racism or bullying from kids, both within and outside school.

And, children in returning Irish families also faced many of the same issues as other migrant children, such as being picked on for looking or sounding different, or having difficulties ‘fitting in,’ or simply missing their old friends, the study found.

According to the report, this challenges the idea that children in returning Irish families are integrated without any difficulties.

Being in school sometimes emphasised the difference and “otherness” of migrant children, for example by ‘celebrating different cultures’ or separating out migrant children for English language tuition.

According to the study, some migrant children rarely socialise with their Irish counterparts.

Many young people also noted the lack of public recreational spaces, which made it more difficult for them to mix with other young people.

The lack of play facilities was particularly problematic for children living in direct provision accommodation centres.