Child Labour of Unaccompanied Migrant Children on the Peripheries of the European Regime: Protected or Invisible?

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI2601069M UDC: 314.15(4):331.1-053.2 original research paper

Abstract

This paper explores the largely overlooked phenomenon of child labour among unaccompanied and separated children travelling from Asia and Africa toward Europe via the Western Balkan route. Drawing on qualitative field research conducted in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the study reveals that a substantial number of children engage in informal, hazardous, and exploitative work both during their journey and upon arrival in Serbia. Many undertake jobs classified as the worst forms of child labour, including dangerous physical labour, work with a high risk of injury, and involvement in illicit activities. Restrictive migration and asylum policies across transit countries push children into deep informality, leaving them invisible to protection systems and highly vulnerable to abuse by employers. Findings also show that national protection systems rarely identify child labour unless linked with suspected trafficking, resulting in inconsistent, insufficient, and reactive responses. The study highlights the urgent need for a child-rights–based approach that prioritises protection over securitisation within European migration governance.

Keywords: child labour, unaccompanied children, Balkan route, protection systems, informality, European peripheries