"Children on the Move", which is is the result of a collective effort by a number of specialists from different organizations, suggests several dimensions for consideration:

1. Children’s migration cannot be delinked from wider socioeconomic political and historical factors. All these factors are interrelated, so looking at child migration through a child protection lens requires a multifaceted approach in both theory and practice.
2. It is important to recognize that the causes, as well as the consequences, of migration are varied and a binary approach or categorization of child migration as either forced or voluntary, moving under parental pressure or independently, or as regular or irregular, is unhelpful because children move in and out of categories depending on the situation that prevails on the ground.
3. It is important to understand the individual characteristics and interests of the child and his or her interactions and interdependencies with the household, as this helps understand who migrates and for what reasons. Consideration of these factors, including the interrelationships and interdependencies among the categories explored, further suggests how they shape and affect children’s migration and the experiences they have.

This paper focuses on child migration primarily from the point of view of the place of origin and in particular rural settings. While reference has been made to the importance of looking at the issue throughout the whole cycle of migration (including transit and destination), the paper has not touched on these areas in any detail.